Pumping Blood Season 2
by mslaurenmichelle
Summary: Relationships are always hard to navigate. Especially when you work at the night shift at a gossip-y hospital. This is the sequel to my other fic, Pumping Blood, which I highly suggest you read first.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Recovery**

 **Author's Note: Hello everyone! Since the second season of The Night Shift has premiered, I decided to do a sequel to Pumping Blood. It would be beneficial for you to read the first installment in order to completely understand what is going on here. Just like last time, I would like to stress that all of the dialogue is taken directly from the episodes of The Night Shift, except for one special Finn and Rachel scene that I've written to add depth to the episode. The fic takes place two months after the events of the finale happened. As a general disclaimer, I do not own Glee, The Night Shift, or any of their themes. The chapter titles come from the name of each episode of The Night Shift. Thank you all for reading this note, and I hope you come back for the subsequent chapters!**

The first thing Rachel heard when she woke up before she was ready was the sound of someone's cell phone going off in the background. "Please don't let it be mine," she mumbled, burying her head into her pillow.

She heard a chuckle beside her in bed and she rolled over to see Finn get out of bed to answer the phone. "You're in luck this time, sweetheart."

"You have to leave now, don't you?" Rachel said, sitting up in the bed.

"Search and rescue calls," Finn said, giving Rachel a half smile. "I'll see you after your shift though. Thanks for letting me stay over."

"No problem. I'll see you later, Finn."

A little while later, Finn was standing on the edge of a cliff with bungee cables around his waist. He took a few deep breaths then start repelling down the cliff.

"The chopper's on his way and rescue says they're about 20 minutes out," Finn's partner, Trisha said as he kept repelling down.

"The kid doesn't have 20 minutes," Finn said.

"Okay, I'll rig up and join you."

Finn got to the bottom of the cliff and went over to where a little boy was lying there. "Alright, let's see here. Yo soy un doctor. Me llamo Finn." Finn took off the backpack and looked at the blood on the boy's leg and tried to move it. He reached for his walkie talkie and grabbed it. "Okay, he's in shock. He's got an open wound, a tib-fib fracture…he needs to get out of here ASAP. I'll give a signal to pull us up and tell the chopper to get his ass here."

The night shift was just about to start at San Antonio Memorial Hospital and things were already off to a crazy start. Artie was walking with a patient and was instructing him on what to do with his medicine. "And, hey, thank you for your service to the country."

"Thank you," the patient said as he walked out of the ER.

Artie watched him walk off as an announcement came on through the PA system. "Phone call for Doctor Abrams. Paging Doctor Abrams."

Artie walked behind the nurses' station and picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Doctor A – oh this is gross!" Artie said, pulling the phone away from his ear as he made a disgusted face. He tossed the phone as the nurses started laughing. "Sam! Wherever you are, you're dead."

"I wouldn't take that crap if I were you," Kurt said, coming out from a trauma room.

Rachel opened the curtains to one of the trauma rooms and walked out with nurse Molly. "Okay, give him another 15 minutes rest then send him home with the antibiotics. Thanks Molly," Rachel said with a smile on her face.

"You're welcome," Molly said looking at something in her hand.

"How'd it go?" Puck asked from where he was sitting at the nurses' station.

"Check this out, it's a night shift special," Rachel said, walking over to where he was. "Two guys fought a duel with nail guns outside of the Alamo. The first guy missed, second guy didn't."

"Well, I hope he already had kids," Puck said, looking at the x-ray that popped up on one of the computer screens.

Rachel nodded as she worked on something on the tablet.

"No, please stop! I – I don't know how you handled all this paperwork when you were in charge," Puck said, gesturing to the pile that one of the nurses had just given him.

"I do not miss that part of the job," Rachel said with a smile.

"Rachel, I need you!" she heard her best friend from college, Santana Lopez, say from the front entrance of the hospital. "Male and female, both 40s. Status post-penetrating rebar injury while riding a motorcycle."

Rachel ran over to where the gurneys were being brought into the hospital and helped Santana pull them in. "Okay trauma one. Uh, rebar? What?"

"Flew off the back of a truck on the 410. Male with a through-and-through skull injury, GCS of 4-6-5 somehow. Female with a penetrating throat injury. She's tachy with a BP of 90 systolic and her stats are holding."

"What's with the splint?" Kurt asked, following them into the trauma room.

"Gross abnormality of the distal radius from the fall. It's closed," Santana said.

"Okay, this is going to need sutures," Puck said, gesturing to the female patient.

"Alright, I'm on it," Rachel said. "Let's get trauma down here for a consult ASAP."

"Doctor Weston is in surgery, I've got to call in Doctor Chavez, the new night surgeon," Molly said.

"Hell of a first shift for him. Thank you," Rachel said, getting a file from Santana.

"Really could've used Finn on this one," Kurt said. "You don't take a doc like that out of the ER."

"Agreed. But you know Finn, it can't stop him from working," Puck said.

Back at the cliff, Finn was working on getting the kid back up the cliff. "Hold on, he's choking." Finn stopped climbing and worked on getting the kid steady. "Okay, come on, I got you," Finn said as the kid started gasping for air. "You got something in there? I need you to cough."

"What's going on?" Trisha asked from where she was standing at the top of the cliff.

"He's got a partial airway occlusion. If we take him up any further, his airway's gonna block. I need you; he's completely obstructed."

Trisha ran towards the truck and started getting her gear on to help Finn as he started working on clearing out whatever was stuck in the boy's throat. "I'm coming down with your med kit."

"Son of a bitch. He's got a cotton ball stuck down his throat. Hand me a J-wire."

"A cotton ball?" Trisha asked, clearly confused.

"Yeah. Some coyotes across the border, they soak cotton balls in juice to feed the kids instead of food. But they don't digest so they choke easily." Finn turned his attention back to the boy. "Come on, get in there," he said as he started feeding the wire into the kid's throat.

"Finn, he's turning blue. You got this?"

"I need to clear his airway with the retrograde J-wire," Finn said as the kid started coughing. "Ah, there we go."

"Hang in there, buddy," Trisha said.

Finn pulled out the cotton ball and tossed it over his shoulder. "There we go. Yes. Welcome back. Okay. Let's make our back up. Nice and slowly," Finn said to Trisha.

Back at the hospital, they were trying to figure out what to do to get the rebar out of the couple. "Sir, hold still. Don't even move an inch, okay?" Puck said. "Your wife is being sedated on pain medication."

"We need to keep you lucid so we can track your neuro exam so we can't give you any pain meds right now," Rachel said.

"I don't feel any pain."

"None? What about your wrist?" Puck asked.

"I don't care about my wrist, I care about Mary. It's my motorcycle and I never let her touch it."

"Sir, you need to keep calm and you need to keep moving around or you're going to endanger both of you," Puck said.

"Okay, I'm done here, let's get some dressing on it," Rachel said, starting to trail off as a new doctor came into the trauma room. Her eyes followed him as he walked around the two patients.

"Ah, Doctor Chavez, I presume," Puck said.

"Call me Joey."

"I can take that, Doctor," one of the nurses said as Joey started to take off his backpack.

"Brody will be down as soon as he can. He's still elbows deep in a splenectomy case. Everybody huddle up. Let's get some information here." Everyone stepped away from the patients and walked over to where Chavez was. "We need to get this helmet off. Are they both medicated?"

"The wife is. The husband is conscious but reporting no pain," Rachel said.

"Really?" Chavez said, sounding impressed.

"But he is pretty freaked out." Mercedes said.

"Alright, I'm going to work on getting the helmet off. You guys complete the secondary survey on the wife," Chavez said. "Let's roll."

"Are you going to be okay in here? I'm getting paged," Puck said as he started taking off his gloves.

"We've got this. What's the patient's name?"

"Craig," Mercedes said.

"Craig, got it." He walked over to where Puck was standing and took something out of his pockets. "Mind if I borrow this? Thanks." Joey walked over to where the patient was and started talking to him. "Hey, Craig? You do yoga?"

"Uh, no?"

"No? Alright, well, you're going to learn it right now. Just follow my pen here. Now, I want you to focus on your breathing. The sound of the saw can be a bit unnerving and the breath is the bridge between the mind and the body," Joey said as Rachel and Mercedes shared an incredulous look. "The longer you exhale, the more relaxed you're going to be. Can you do that?"

"I'll try," Craig said weakly.

"That's great. Drill please." Mercedes handed him the drill and he thanked her. "Namaste everybody."

Outside of the trauma room, Kurt and Puck were walking around and talking. "So, the new night surgeon, Chavez," Kurt started. "What's he like?"

"Oh, Doctor Granola? A little too touchy-feely for my taste."

"Oh god, I forgot it's Jesse's first night back," Molly said from where she was standing at the nurses' station.

"That's just what I need. Another pain in my ass," Puck said.

"Evening, gentlemen," Jesse said, coming over to the nurses' station. "Molly. Puck!" Jesse said, pulling Puck in for a hug. "Good to have you back. How's the wife and kids?"

"Good. They're good."

"Good," Jesse said before turning to Kurt. "Kurt! How's Blaine doing? I hear you guys moved in together, right?"

"He's doing as well as could be expected. Should get his prosthetic leg any week now."

"You tell him to never give up hope" Jesse said. "I didn't, and this guy right here didn't either," he said, gesturing to Puck. "Isn't that right, Puck?"

"Uh, yeah. Is everything okay with you?"

"Yeah. It couldn't be better. You survive a tumor, cheat death, and everything else seems like small potatoes. We dodged a bullet, Puck."

"Well, actually—" Puck started.

"Well, you didn't. But you get my metaphor, right?"

"Yeah."

"We're survivors."

"I get it," Puck said.

"Anyway, it's the first night back. Lots to do," Jesse said, turning back to Kurt. "See you boys around."

Puck and Kurt watched him walk off. "That was weird, right?"

"I don't know who that was," Kurt said.

"Hey, I need a trauma room," Finn said, coming into the hospital carrying the little boy from the cliff. Trisha was following right behind him.

"Trauma three," Puck said, coming out from behind the nurses' station to follow him in.

"Okay. I found this little guy in the wild, probably abandoned by a coyote, with an open tibia fracture, an infected leg wound and severe dehydration. He's got a 40cc per kilogram bolus through a sterile I.O. line. Send off a CBC, a CMP, and get ortho here ASAP."

"Finn, I hate to break it to you, but technically you're still suspended," Puck said gently

"Right," Finn said a little sadly. "Sorry. Sam, Doctor Puckerman is going to ask you to start some antibiotics for the open fracture and the wound infection."

"Got it," Sam said with a smile.

"And Doctor Puckerman is also going to tell you that Doctor Hudson, although a brilliant doctor, has been a pain in his ass since the day they met."

"Yeah, but you still love me, huh?" Finn said.

Back in the other trauma room, Chavez had finished drilling the helmet on the patient. "Alright, I'm gonna slowly take this off of you."

"The bar is stable for now," Rachel said.

"That's great. Craig, how are you feeling?"

"How's Mary doing?" Craig asked.

"She's good. She's resting," Mercedes said.

"Can I hold her hand?" Craig asked.

"Of course," Rachel said. She lifted up Mary's hand as Mercedes lifted up Craig's hand so they would be able to hold each other's hands.

The door to the trauma room opened and Brody walked in and sighed. "Sorry, the surgery took a lot longer than expected. What do we have here, Mercedes?"

"A reduced wrist fracture on the man, a sutured relac on the woman, and a large piece of rebar causing all types of problems."

"So what we need to do is separate the two of them without killing them," Chavez said to Brody.

"I don't want to cut them apart without seeing what structures may be damaged. There's no way we can fit them in the CT like that."

"What if we cut it at both ends? Maybe—" Rachel started to say.

"We'll handle it from here, Rachel. This is surgical case now so you can go back to the ER."

Rachel swallowed thickly and looked around. "Okay. Let me know if you need anything."

"We need to clear the body half of this helmet. Let's be ready to stabilize his head," Brody said.

Rachel took off her gloves and trauma gown and pushed the door open to the trauma room with a sigh. She walked across the hall and pushed open the door to one of the new break rooms and saw Santana sitting in there.

"Rach, check this out. I found the perfect picture for throwback Thursday."

Rachel shook her head and walked over to her best friend. "Oh my god," Rachel said, taking the phone from Santana. She started laughing at a picture with the two of them in matching Spice Girls tee shirts and jeans. "Sophomore year? God, we were so into the Spice Girls."

"Um, still into the Spice Girls." Santana said, gesturing to herself. "So, Brody still being a dick to you?"

"Yeah. He's acting like—"

"Like he moved down here and you dumped him to get back with Finn?"

"I am not back together with Finn. And it is way more complicated than that."

Santana let out a chuckle. "Complicated and Finn? No way," she said sarcastically.

"Well, it's better that he's complicated than—"

"Boring?" Santana said with a knowing look, causing a small smile and eye roll from Rachel.

Back in the trauma room, Brody and Joey were trying to figure out the best way for surgery. "Our safest option without a scan is to cut the rebar as close to you as possible, and that will keep the weight of the bar from shifting toward your side."

"Does that mean it shifts to her side?" Craig said. "Is it going to be bad for Mary?"

"There's potential respiratory distress and some damage to her vocal cords, but better to that than damage to your brain tissue which can't be repaired."

"I can't let that happen. She's a schoolteacher. She needs her voice."

"Craig, we respect your concern, sir, but you need to know the stakes here," Puck said. "If you have significant brain damage, you may not come out of this."

"Craig, you need to hear me," Chavez said, getting closer to where Craig was laying on the bed. "There are no great options here. There are going to be risks no matter what we do. Now, you need to let go and trust us."

"We have more ways to help her if she gets into trouble than if you do," Mercedes said.

"I'll take that risk," Craig said as he squeezed his wife's hand again. "Mary, if something happens to you, I won't care if I live. I won't let them cut if it hurts you."

"Mary, we need you to stop moving," Brody said as the machines hooked up to her started beeping.

"Her stats are going down to 90," Mercedes said.

"What's going on, what's beeping?" Craig asked, concerned for what was going on with his wife.

"Her airway is filling up with blood," Puck said.

"He disruptured the blood clot. We need to get the rebar out now. Hand me the bone saw," Brody said.

Nurse Molly peeked her head into the trauma room. "Puck, we're shorthanded. I need you to see an acute stroke patient."

Puck scoffed and shook his head. "When it rains, it pours, right?"

"Mercedes, you're up," Chavez said.

Down in his office, Jesse took the lid off the candy jar he kept on his desk and looked at the visible part of his scar on his forehead. His phone started ringing and he fixed his hair before answering it. "Jesse St. James," he said as he rubbed a hand over his face. "Yes. Yes, Mr. Clark. I was just, uh, working on those numbers for you. And the new insurance mandate. And the MediCare and MediCaid projects. I'm all over it. Okay. Thank you. Bye." Jesse hung up the phone and sat back in his chair. He was in for a long night.

Back in the main part of the hospital, Finn and Trisha were walking around while waiting for a new call to come in.

"Well, I don't want to be a bother. It's just a sore neck thing but I've been waiting for, like, three months for an appointment from the VA."

"Trisha, stop. Just…consider it done," Finn said as they got to the lobby. "Go wait in the waiting room and I'll set it up."

"Hey Finn!" Puck called when he saw Finn in the lobby. "That kid's doing better."

"Great," Finn said. "Listen, can you make sure to see my friend Trisha tonight? She's been a big help to me in therapy group and I—"

"Of course we can. But we have to be careful now. Jesse's back and if he finds out we're doing this off the book then we're done."

"Yeah, I got," Finn said as he started to walk away.

Rachel and Santana opened the door to the break room and started laughing at something they were talking about. "No, that's exactly how it happened." She stopped when she saw Finn and her face went neutral. "Finn."

"Santana," he repeated in the same tone of voice. "May I have a word with Doctor Berry?"

"Sure," Rachel said with an eyebrow raised as Santana walked off. Once she was out of earshot, a soft smile appeared on her face. "I like it when you stop by."

"Well, actually, I had to bring in a patient. But I could go out and come back in and pretend like I came here to see you if you like," Finn said, making the smile grow wider on Rachel's face.

"Yeah, okay," Rachel said as she started laughing.

"Hey, Finn!" Artie said, coming up to the two of them. Rachel felt her shoulders slump and she bit down on her bottom lip to keep her frown from showing. "It's good to see you," Artie said with a large smile on his face. "I've been working on the vets. Mum's the word on that one. It's a bit busy but I got it so…cool."

"That's great," Finn said. "Can you make sure to see my friend Trisha?" Finn asked, trying to get Artie to leave so he could keep talking to Rachel. "See you around, buddy."

"So, have you seen the new break room? It's pretty cool, right? You…you wanna play some pool after the shift?"

"Hey, Artie, maybe you should get a start on those vets," Rachel said, trying to get Artie to leave.

"Yeah, like now even," Finn said.

Artie nodded and walked off and Rachel turned her attention back to Finn.

"Hey, uh, Rachel?" Puck called from where he was in the nurses' station. "A little help, s'il vous plait, with the doctors' schedule?"

Rachel's face dropped and she looked up at Finn. "Not so good with the paperwork. He has been doing this for weeks. Don't leave, okay?" Rachel said, putting her hands on Finn's biceps and squeezing a little.

"I won't," Finn whispered as she walked off. He waited a few seconds and followed her to the nurses' station.

"So, just so you know, Finn, if you hurt her again, you're going to have to deal with me," Santana said as she was filling out paperwork at the nurses' station.

"Easy, Sannie, I'm not gonna hurt her. It's not like last time when I came back from the war. You know it's different now. I'm taking it…slow."

"Like I said, hurt her, and you're dealing with me," Santana said, looking up from the clipboard.

"Puck, I just got a call from the courthouse. There's some type of major crush injury," Molly said, coming up to Puck to hand him the information she got from dispatch. "They said they can't move him and he's critical."

"Rachel, I'll let you take this one," Puck said, handing her the paper.

"On it. Santana, we're up," Rachel said, grabbing a medical bag from underneath the desk. She smiled at Finn and gave him a slight head nod. "Catch you later."

Finn winked at her and leaned over the desk. "Hey Molly. Where exactly was that crush injury?"

At the courthouse, Rachel and Santana were greeted by other paramedics who were giving them an update about what happened. "Guy got stuck in the elevator, panicked about being late for something and tried to squeeze out. That's when the elevator moved and—"

They turned the corner and saw a teenaged girl frantically screaming and was being held back by another paramedic. She grabbed one of Rachel's arms and pulled her back. "You have to save my dad. You have to."

"Okay, I'll do my best," Rachel started walking towards the elevator and gasped. "Oh…my god." She rushed towards the man who was crushed between the floor and the elevator shaft. She got down on the floor and went to lift up his head, which caused the shaft to slightly move down.

"We have to work fast," Santana said, looking back at the daughter.

Rachel followed her gaze. "Yeah."

Back in the trauma room, they were working on stopping the bleeding on Mary while Craig was trying to calm down. "How's she looking?"

"Looking good," Chavez said. "I'm making an incision on the trachea."

"I'm ready with the trach tube," Brody said. He inserted the tube into Mary's throat. "Tube is in. Inflating the balloon."

The doctors watched and breathed a sigh of relief. "The bleeding has stopped. Virtual fist bumps all around," Chavez said.

"Now that we've got her airway secured, we can safely remove the rebar from both of you. There's a neurosurgeon waiting for you up in OR 1 and we're going to take care of your wife in OR 2, right next to you," Brody said.

"Thank you Doctor."

Chavez took a deep breath and started doing a yoga pose in the trauma room. Mercedes gave him a weird look and he let out a slight chuckle. "You should stretch in between surgeries. It'll be good for you."

"Okay," Mercedes said with an amused look on her face.

Back at the courthouse, Rachel and Santana were trying to figure out the best way to get the man out from underneath the elevator shaft. "He has a large friction rub. He's bleeding around his heart," Rachel said.

"Hey, how's it going?" Finn said, squatting down behind Rachel.

"What are you doing here?" Santana asked as a smile broke out on Rachel's face.

"She was sent out on a major crush case alone. I thought Rachel could use the help of a good Samaritan," Finn said simply.

"Or an adrenaline junkie," Santana responded.

"I could definitely use the help. This poor man is having labored breathing. He needs his airway stabilized but I can't intubate him in this position."

"We have to do a nasaltracheal. I've done it a dozen times before on the battlefield," Finn said as he started to put on the medical gloves. "When a soldier can't be moved, it's the best way to intubate. Santana, can you hand me a 6.0 endotracheal tube?"

"I'll place a nasal airway for dilation," Rachel said.

"I'm also going to need some blankets here to prop him up," Finn called to the other paramedics who were waiting for more instruction.

"We're going to take care of you, sir" Rachel said, trying to calm the man down.

Back at the hospital, Puck was updating the surgical board as Jesse came up from behind him. "How's it going tonight?" Jesse asked, looking at the board.

"Well, you know what they say. A third of the time boring, a third of the time regular, a third of the time crazy," Puck said.

"I see Rachel's got the crush injury on site, you just saw a stroke patient, and Kurt is taking care of a sore throat."

"Is there something I can help you with, Jesse?" Puck asked, trying to get to the bottom of why his boss was looking at the surgical board and questioning him.

"Nope. Carry on," Jesse said with a laugh. "Actually, if it's alright with you, I thought I'd hang out down here tonight. You know, I learned a lot about being a patient myself. I realized I spent too much time cooped up in my office. I need to be in the ebb and flow. Get my hands dirty, you know? I need to be more involved."

"All night every night?" Puck said, starting to get anxious about Jesse being up in their business constantly.

"I'll stay out of your way. I promise." He pat Puck on the back and started walking towards the nurses' station.

At the courthouse, jacks were being put into place to try and get the man out from being trapped.

"Okay. All the jacks are in place. Listen up. No one does a thing until Doctor Berry gives the signal okay?" Santana said, addressing her fellow paramedics. They all nodded in understanding. "You only look at and listen to her, got it?"

"Okay guys. On my count. One crank at a time. Understood?" She turned her attention to Finn. "Finn, you ready?"

"Let's do it."

"Okay good. On my count. One. Two. Three," Rachel said. The paramedics on each side of her pushed down on the jacks as the elevator shaft started to rise.

"Again," Finn said as he was pumping air in through the man's nose.

"One. Two. Three," Rachel said and the elevator started to raise again. Only this time, blood started seeping out onto the man's shirt.

"He's bleeding out. We're losing him," Finn said.

"His temperature's crashing," Santana said.

"Get the elevator back down now!" Rachel said as the blood seeped through his shirt.

"It's crazy, but the elevator is keeping him alive," Finn said, taking off his jacket to put over the man's chest so his daughter wouldn't have to see the blood on his shirt. "Its weight is stopping him from bleeding internally."

"He most definitely has severe injuries to his heart and aorta," Rachel said.

"Exactly. So if we move him, he dies. And if he stays, he dies. What he needs is ECMO."

"We can't do that," Rachel said. "ECMO is never done outside of a hospital."

"Just because it hasn't been done, doesn't mean that it shouldn't be," Finn said. "If he has no blood in his body, then he cannot bleed out when we move the elevator. We have at least 30 minutes to get him to the OR and repair his injuries. ECMO's his only chance."

"Even if we get approval, and that's a huge—"

"It's still better than if we don't try," Finn said.

Rachel sighed and turned to look at the daughter. She was sitting on the bench with her head in her hands. "Let's do it. I'll make the call."

Back at the hospital, Puck and Jesse were in the trauma room examining the kid that Finn brought in earlier. "Look at that. Heart rate's coming down, he's got color in his cheeks. You're looking good little man."

"You got ancef and gent for the open fracture?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, that's right," Puck said, slightly confused at how Jesse knew that.

"Hey, Puck? Rachel's calling from the scene. She needs to speak with you right away," Sam said.

Puck nodded and followed him out of the trauma room. "Rachel, what's up?" He listened for a few seconds and his eyes widened. "ECMO in the field? Are you nuts? Jesse's never going to approve that."

"Just pass me through to Jesse," Rachel said through the phone.

"He's right here, hold on. Hey, Jesse, Rachel's on the phone and needs to talk to you."

Jesse walked over and took the phone from Puck. "What's going on?"

"Before you say no, I need you to listen. Jesse, you know I lost my father at a young age. And your kids almost lost you."

In the OR, Brody and Joey were working on getting the rebar out of the woman's throat. "Brody, would you mind if I put on some music? I like it when I suture. I find it activates sensory pathways that complete with pain pathways. It reduces anxiety and all sorts of good things."

"You know, I'm not really a music guy in the OR."

"Some other time then."

"Let's focus on getting this rebar out of here right now." Brody focused on pulling the rebar out from the woman's throat. "And…it's…out. Beautiful. No bleeding. Needle driver and 5.0 vicro to me please and let's close her out."

"Doctor Weston," one of the nurses said, coming into the OR. "Sorry to interrupt but Rachel needs to speak with you."

"Well, I'm a little busy right now."

"They're taking an ECMO unit out in the field and they need a surgeon."

Both of the doctors stopped working on Mary and turned their attention to the nurse. "What?" Brody asked incredulously.

"I've never heard of that before," Chavez commented.

"Jesse approved this?" Brody asked.

"It's already being loaded," the nurse said.

"Go ahead, Brody. I just have to close and Mercedes can be my second set of hands. If they're going to do that, you need to be out there."

"Son of a bitch," Brody said, setting his tools down on the tray.

"Jocelyn, could you please page Doctor Jones for me?" Chavez asked. "And go ahead and turn on the music."

In another part of the hospital, Kurt was coming out of one of the rooms and was talking on his phone to Blaine. "No, you get two pills four times a day. That's it. Blaine, you can't take any more. It's not good for you. I know. I'll see you in the morning."

Behind him, Artie was talking to Trisha. "Sorry it's taking so long, but I swear you're going to be next."

"Oh, I've waited months to see a doc so a couple of hours is nothing. Plus I've never had a doctor give me soda and chips before," Trisha said with a smile on her face.

"Wait, Sam, where are you going with those?" Kurt asked, gesturing to the many boxes of syringes in Sam's hands.

"Artie needed some extra supplies for the vets."

"Oh, that's good. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you something," Kurt said, following behind Sam.

"What's up? Everything okay?"

"How long have you been sleeping with Mercedes?"

Sam started laughing uncomfortably. "What are you talking about?"

"Sam, I've been in the closet for 20 years. I know when someone's keeping a secret. Plus I saw you two at the River Walk on Friday."

Sam stopped walking and turned to face Kurt. "Okay, okay. But you can't tell anybody."

"Is it a hook up or…?"

"You can't…well, it started off like that. But I don't know. I mean, it feels like…like it's turning into something else now," Sam smiled at Kurt and opened the door. An air horn sounded and a puff of flour exploded all over Sam. He coughed at the unexpected flour that went in his mouth.

"You said Artie sent you in here?" Kurt asked from where he was standing in the doorway, trying to hide the smile on his face.

"I am going to kill him. Artie better watch out," Sam said as he sneezed.

Once Brody arrived at the courthouse, he rushed in to find out what was going on at the scene of the accident. "Where are they?" he asked two people who were walking away from where the elevator shaft was.

Rachel heard his voice and sighed. She gave Finn a pat on the back and started to stand up. "Let me deal with him. You'll just piss him off," Rachel said through gritted teeth. She walked over to where Brody was standing and narrowed her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing and what is Finn doing here? He's still under suspension."

"Let's just focus on this man, alright? His pressure is tamponding severely from his injuries. Yes, the ECMO is a Hail Mary, but we have to try. We can't just let him die here," Rachel said, trying to keep calm when dealing with Brody.

"I don't want him to die here but you just said it. It's a Hail Mary. If you try it and it doesn't work, you're putting yourself and the hospital in the crosshair for a lawsuit."

"Still doesn't mean it shouldn't be done," Rachel said, feeling her patience get tested.

"It's cardiac bypass in an elevator shaft." Brody heard the machines from the hospital get to where he was talking with Rachel and turned around to face the workers. "Just hold off on those for now. Rachel, listen to me. Just listen to me because you didn't listen to me last time with Milo and he ended up dead and you were under investigation—"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "No, this has nothing to do with that."

"It has everything to do with that. It has to do with your judgment and the bad decisions you made."

Finn was starting to get annoyed. Making sure Santana had as much control as possible over the man in the elevator shaft, he got up to go help Rachel out in the situation with Brody.

"Excuse me?" Rachel said, a shocked expression crossing her face.

"What the hell is going on?" Finn asked, joining in on the scuffle. "Look, you need to listen."

"To you?" Brody scoffed. "Last time I saw you, you were having a nervous breakdown in my OR. It was so bad they had to suspend you. I don't even _know_ what you're doing here."

"Brody, stop," Rachel said, trying to get the two of them to stop fighting.

"No, it's fine. Go ahead and get it out and say what you want to say," Finn said. "I don't care what you think of me but just because you're pissed off at Rachel and got your feelings hurt, you're just going to let that man die?"

"No, I'm not going to let that man die, I am pointing out—"

"Point it out later," Finn said. "Look, I hate to say this but right now, you are the only one who can save that man. They need you."

Brody looked back and forth between Finn and Rachel and sighed. "Fine. But we're doing this my way. You understand? You do everything I say because that is his only chance. You got it?"

Finn pursed his lips and nodded. "Sure. Whatever you need."

Brody turned towards the people who were helping with the man stuck in the shaft. "Everybody listen up. We're going to do a veno-artery bypass. I don't have access to the heart from the chest or the groin so I'm going in through the neck. We need cool saline and bags of ice – lots of them – and we need the venous and the arterial circuits flushed and ready to go."

"Alright, Santana, let's go," Rachel said as the two of them started walking towards the machines brought over from the hospital.

As the paramedics were dumping ice around the man, Finn was checking his vitals. "It's working. We need to slow down his brain metabolism. We need more ice."

"It looks like that's it," Brody said. "Blood is drained and the core temperature is holding at 16.5. We have 30 minutes to get him through the OR or the tissue starts to die."

Off to the side, Rachel was sitting and trying to keep the daughter calm. "He's not going to make it, is he?" she asked.

"We don't know that," Rachel said.

"No, you're just saying that to make me feel better. But he wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for me. I got this stupid speeding ticket and I can't lose my father. He's all that I have."

"Alicia, I promise you that we are going to do everything that we can. Doctor Weston is our top surgeon. So right now, I just need you to be strong."

"That's what they said when my mom died. I'm so tired of being strong."

"Alright, people. We've got to move," Brody said.

Rachel sighed and looked over at Alicia. "Okay honey. We've got to go now, alright?"

Back at the hospital, Kurt and Artie were giving Trisha her exam to figure out what was wrong with her. "Wait, so you're a captain? I was just a grunt," she said.

"There's no such thing as a grunt. Give me your hands," Kurt said, holding his out for her to take. "Finn told me how kick ass you are out in the field so we're giving you the A+ treatment. Push for me. And pull."

"How long have you been on the Vicodin?" Artie asked, looking at Trisha's chart.

"Months. It's the only thing that helps. Truth is I need them to block the pain so I can train. I want to re-enlist, I want to learn to fly choppers. I want to kick some ISIS ass like that woman fighter pilot from the UAE."

"I like the sound of that," Kurt said with a smile on his face.

The smile on Trisha's started to fade. "Yeah, but the pain keeps me from training. I won't pass a physical and I can barely do three push-ups."

"Can you put your chin to your chest?" Artie asked.

"I just need to pass a test, save the money and get a chiropractor to fix my neck." She lifted her head back up and started coughing and wheezing.

"Do you need some water or anything?" Artie asked as Kurt handed her a few tissues.

Trisha shook her wiped at her mouth. She pulled away the napkins and saw blood.

"Has this happened before?" Kurt asked as he shared a look of concern with Artie.

"A couple of times."

"Okay, take a deep breath and relax. Artie, we're going to need a chest CT and remember it's off book." Kurt turned his attention to Trisha. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

In another part of the hospital, Chavez and Mercedes were leaving the OR with the wife still medicated. "Check a neuro exam on arrival then queue two hours overnight," Chavez said to the nurse as they were leaving.

"So I take it that was your first rebar to the neck too?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah. I've seen fence posts, broken hockey sticks, swords, knives, RPG—"

"RPG?" Mercedes asked, cutting him off. "Grenade? You were in the military?"

"Yes ma'am. Air Force Academy, class of 1999."

"You don't seem like the military type."

"And what type is that?" Chavez asked with a slight scoff in his voice.

"I mean, you're just more of the yoga quoting, Enya listening meditating type," Mercedes said, trying to cover her tracks. "Did you see any action?"

"Yeah. A couple of tours in Iraq."

"You know Kurt was in Iraq. As a medic. I think half our shift served in the military. Were you just stationed here and decided to stay like everyone else?"

"Nope, I'm a local boy. I just came back from Florida to take care of my parents."

"God, that's so sweet. You must really love them."

"Not really," Chavez said with a smile.

From the main entrance to the ER, there was a flurry of activity. "Everyone move! Let's make some room!" Rachel called as they started to wheel in the man from the elevator.

"We have to start the rewarming right away or his brain will die. We're back in the hospital so tell the OR we're cracking his chest the second we get up there. Make sure they know I'm doing a median sternotomy," Brody said as they all ran into the ER.

"I got it!" Santana called as she ran off.

"Let's go, let's go. Keep him steady," Brody said. "Doctor Chavez, meet me there."

Finn stood in the lobby of the ER as he took off his gloves and watched as they took the man from the elevator to the OR.

Once they were in the OR and working on the patient, Brody started talking to Joey. "I gotta say, when I first saw the elevator on this guy's chest, I didn't expect him to make it this far."

"It was a good call by Rachel. Ballsy. This guy had no other option," Chavez said.

Brody gave him a look and changed the subject. "So a dual rebar operation and an ECMO…that's a hell of a first night for you."

"Piece of cake compared to my first night in Al-Anbar province. A suicide bomber walked into a market. We heard the blast from five miles out. I've never seen so many body parts. And they were everywhere. Stuck to the walls."

Brody looked up in surprise. "Sorry, man. I had no idea."

"Don't be sorry. I mean, how could you know? I hadn't even thought about that in years. So, no music in the OR?"

"I find it too much of a distraction."

"That's cool," Chavez said as he started humming. He started laughing when he saw the look on Brody's face. "Just messing with you."

In the radiology suite, Trisha was getting her CT scan done but was having trouble because she kept coughing and moving. "Oh, Trisha. Just a few more minutes darling," Kurt said into the microphone. "Hang in there, okay?"

Puck looked at the scans that were starting to show up on the monitor. "That's not good," Puck said, squinting to get a better look at screen.

"Hey, I just got word that Trisha needed a scan," Finn said, coming into the radiology suite. "What's going on?" he asked, looking back and forth between Kurt, Puck and Artie. He turned his attention to the computer screen. "Son of a bitch," he sighed.

Once they got Trisha out of the CT machine, they moved her to the break room so they could talk about what they found in the scan.

"It's a tumor?" she asked skeptically.

"It's a stage 2 pancoast tumor at the top of your lung. That's what's been causing your neck pain," Finn said. "Not a pulled muscle."

"No way. I don't even smoke. I swear. I've never even smoked. If someone's smoking, I walk away," Trisha said.

"I saw one of your duties in Afghanistan was working in the trash pits," Puck said. "You were exposed to all sorts of chemicals for hours every day."

"They said it was safe," Trisha said through gritted teeth. "So what do I do?"

" _We_ get it out of there."

"Don't BS me, Finn. You know I'm a straight shooter."

"And so am I," Finn said. "We're going to take care of you, okay?"

In the lobby of the hospital, Jesse was getting chewed out by his boss. "I shouldn't have to take 15 phone calls in the middle of the night because you approved an ECMO in the field!"

"It needed to be done," Jesse said, trying to remain level headed.

"I don't even know what to say. Do you have any idea how much that costs?"

"Yes."

"And yet you did it anyway! What the hell is wrong with you? Why the hell did you do that? I'm waiting."

"I did it because, um, I wanted to do one decent thing on this job before I quit," Jesse said.

"You're quitting?"

"Yeah. I quit. I don't want to do this job anymore. I had a piece of my brain removed to get to my tumor. Most people could barely recite the alphabet after that but I have all of my faculties and I refuse to push paper at a place where everybody hates me," Jesse said as tears of frustration sprang into his eyes. "God, this feels so good. You have no idea how good it feels to finally do what you want to do. So yes. I quit. And I could not be happier."

"You have your desk cleaned out by morning."

"I already started."

Jesse's boss gave him a furious look before he started walking off. Jesse turned around and saw all of the doctors and nurses who weren't doing anything gathered around to talk about what was going on. He took off his sport jacket and started walking towards the doors.

Alicia was in the bathroom, washing off all the makeup on her face off as she tried to calm down from the events that had preceded her. She heard the door open and saw Rachel come in.

"Hey, you," Rachel said softly. "The nurses said I would find you here."

"My dad always hated this stuff. But he never said anything. He just let me be me."

"Well, I have some good news. I just spoke with the OR and so far, your dad's holding up."

Alicia let out a jagged breath. "Thank you. I called my aunt from Dallas. She's coming down."

"Good. That's really good. Alicia, I want to apologize to you. For what I said earlier. About being strong. I don't even know why I said that to you because I always hated that when adults said that to me. I never understood why I had to be strong and why I couldn't cry and why I couldn't have feelings. Feelings are good, Alicia. Don't ever let anyone tell you how to feel."

"I don't know how I feel. I'm just numb."

"Well, uh, do you mind if I stay with you until your aunt gets here? You know, maybe we could be numb together."

When Rachel said that, Alicia broke down and started crying and laughing at the same time. "We could cry, too. I'm cool with whatever," Rachel said, trying to make her feel better. She wrapped her arms around Alicia and rubbed her arm, trying to do anything to make her feel better.

Back in the break room, Trisha was sitting there, still completely shocked about what happened. Puck drew the blinds and started talking to Finn about the best way for treatment. "So she can't get into the VA for months because of the backlog."

"At which time her cancer will be stage 3 or 4. Too late for her to survive."

"The pentagon buys $200 million planes that nobody wants but a soldier can't get a doctor," Kurt scoffed.

"I hear that," Puck said. "And she has no insurance and no savings so she can't get a surgeon to do it."

"Why don't we just check her in here like everybody else?" Artie asked. "I mean, get her tests done on book and just do it here. We have a great thoracic surgeon on staff."

"And we have to treat everybody who comes through those doors," Finn said, standing up. "Surgeons don't. They just treat emergencies."

"This is an emergency," Artie said.

"Not technically. I mean, it will become one. Let's at least do what Artie says. Let's get her checked in and get it started. Let's present the case to surgeon. Who knows? Maybe he'll do it." Puck said

Rachel needed fresh air and she needed it fast. She hadn't been this bored in months and her being on sutures and broken limbs was not helping her boredom. So she decided to go out to the parking lot and think.

She walked out of the hospital and saw Finn working on his motorcycle. "Planning your escape?" she asked, walking over towards him.

Finn chuckled and turned to face her. "Yeah. Puck thought it was better if I wasn't hanging out inside the hospital. Suspension and all."

"That little thing," Rachel said. "It's a weird shift. There's the ECMO and the motorcycle accident."

"That is why I never let you on my bike," Finn said.

"Well, it was a pretty amazing thing to witness, you know? I mean, this guy has a piece of rebar through his brain and the only thing he can think about is his wife."

"Well, I guess if you find the right woman, you'll do anything for her," Finn said, smiling up at Rachel, causing a new smile to spread across Rachel's face.

Finn felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he reached in to get it. "Puck wants me back inside. It's about Trisha."

"I heard about that," Rachel said softly. "I'm sorry, Finn, that's really sad."

"I never told you how great she was for me. I didn't want to burden you with my therapy."

"You're not a burden," Rachel said, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I know that. I just need to get there myself. She's a real ball buster for me. She was the first one to call me out."

"Oh yeah?" Rachel asked, following Finn back inside. "How?"

"Well, she was like 'Your brother got himself killed' and that Thad dying was his fault, not mine. Said he was reckless and had no business sending a doc in there first. That was an NCO's job and that he put the entire platoon at risk by putting the medical officer in jeopardy. And the entire group completely agreed with her."

"But did you agree with her?"

"You know, if it wasn't me, I probably would have but…it's hard to look at it that way."

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Finn. You've changed. I've seen it."

"When I had my breakdown—"

"Breakthrough," Rachel corrected.

"Yeah. You know, you said you would always be there for me and…you have. I just wanted to say that it meant a lot to me," Finn felt his phone vibrate again and he looked down at it.

"I guess we should go back inside," Rachel said.

"Oh, don't make any plans for two weeks from Friday," Finn said, tossing Rachel the towel he used to work on his bike.

She caught it and her eyebrows furrowed. "Why?" Finn turned and looked at her and made a face then walked inside the hospital. "Finn, why?"

Once Finn got back inside, Puck met up with him. "So I spoke to the thoracic surgeon about Trisha. It's a no-go."

"He can't do one pro bono surgery?"

"Actually, he does several a month. He can only do so many. He did say he'd cut his fee in half, so all we need is 15 grand. You got that?"

"What do you think?"

"That was rhetorical," Puck said with a smile. "I'd be surprised if you had 15 bucks. Sorry brother," Puck said as he started walking away.

Finn ran a hand through his hair as he started walking away. He was going to get Trisha that surgery if it was the last thing he did.

Puck walked into the recovery room that Mary was in. "Excuse ma'am, but we thought you might want to share the room with your husband." Puck smiled as her face lit up.

"He should just be coming to," Mercedes said as they started to wheel in Craig.

"Talk about beating the odds," Rachel whispered to Mercedes.

"Ma'am, we needed to sedate your husband to pull the last of the rebar out," the neurosurgeon said. "It had shifted and the pain was just too intense."

"Mr. Woo, can you hear us?" Puck asked Craig to try and wake him up. "Remember me, I'm Doctor Puckerman. I worked on you when you came in. Mr. Woo? You're here with your wife and she's right next to you, sir."

"Mr. Woo?" Mercedes tried. "Do you want to say anything to your wife?" she asked, gesturing towards Mary's bed. Craig turned his head and smiled when he saw her.

Everyone was surprised when he started speaking Chinese. "Mr. Woo? I need you to speak to me in English," the neurosurgeon said. Instead, he kept speaking in Chinese.

"I don't think he can," Puck said.

Mary wrote something down on a piece of paper and tore it off to hand to Puck. "She says her husband grew up in a bilingual family."

"That explains it. I was able to preserve his speech but the rebar must have injured the English language centers of his brain," the neurosurgeon said. "He's going to have to completely relearn it."

"Well considering that a pole went through his brain at 70 miles per hour, I think things could be a hell of a lot worse," Rachel said.

Mercedes came back in the room holding two tablets. "Okay, I downloaded a Mandarin to English app and I figured that way you could talk and we could explain," Mercedes said, handing the two of them the tablets.

"That's a great idea, Mercedes. Mandarin to English. Who knew?" Puck said.

Back in the waiting room, Finn was talking to Trisha. "I'm in shock. I thought you said the surgeon couldn't."

"I know but he got an opening in his schedule. There's a certain amount of pro bono cases per month, one fell through, and it's just lucky timing," Finn said. "You're up next."

"Oh my god!" Trisha said as she started laughing. "Oh my god. Thank you!" she said as she kissed Finn on the cheek. She stood up when she saw Kurt come into the waiting room and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you." She pulled away with a big smile on her face. "Did you hear? The surgeon agreed to do it! I'm going to live!"

Back in the OR, Brody and Joey were looking at the stats for the man crushed in the elevator. "Core temperature is back up to 98 degrees. So far, so good," Chavez said.

Rachel came into the OR. "How's it going? How's the ECMO patient?"

"You're just in time for the moment of truth," Brody said. "Let's come off bypass."

The three of them watched the monitors closely. "It's not beeping," Rachel said.

"It just needs to wake up," Brody said. "Give me the paddles."

"Clear."

"Come on, come on," Rachel whispered. She didn't want to be the one to tell Alicia the bad news.

"Increase the joules to 20," Chavez said. They shocked the heart again and heard the monitor start beating. "Stats are rising."

"Come on, take it to the rack, baby."

The three of them watched the heart as it started beating on its own.

"Alright, you did it, Brody," Chavez said.

"That was amazing. Really amazing," Rachel said.

"I'm going to disconnect the tube," Chavez said.

Rachel took a deep breath and swallowed. "Brody? I'm really sorry about how things turned out between us."

Brody turned to look at her. "Yeah well, you got what you wanted. Let's close." he said, turning back to the patient.

Kurt was walking down one of the hallways when Molly stopped him. "Kurt, honey, can you help me this please? I need to get it straight and I can't get it up there," Molly said, nodding towards the poster in her hands. "Will you hold it for me?"

Kurt gave her a look and stuck two fingers on the center of the poster while Molly tapped it up. "Perfect," Molly said, stepping back. All of a sudden, Kurt was being pinned against the wall as Artie and Sam ran around the pole with saran wrap and circled around him a few times.

"Doctor Chavez, come here. You have to see this," Molly said as Joey was walking by.

"That's amazing. That is amazing," Chavez said as he started laughing.

"We're just one big happy family. Right Kurt?" Sam asked as him and Artie started posing next to Kurt as the staff took pictures on their phones.

"I think I'm going to like working here," Chavez said with a smile as he walked off.

Puck walked into the break room and saw Jesse smacking his head on the table. "You okay?" Puck asked.

"No, I am not okay. I made a huge, massive mistake. You see these big speeches in the movies and it looks cool and the guy gets the girl and the job and the music plays…well that ain't happening. There's no music. There's no girl. I am so screwed. What the hell was I thinking?"

"Clearly, you had some things you needed to get off your chest." Puck said, coming over his a cup of coffee.

"Why couldn't I have waited? He was thirty seconds away from firing me. I would have had a severance package, I would have had COBRA insurance…do you have any idea how much insurance costs for a year for a family?"

"Absolutely. It's about 20 grand. And you know we don't get insurance here. What are you gonna do?"

Jesse sighed. "Actually, I'm going to…I've been studying to take the boards and get my MD."

"That is why you knew how to treat the open fracture," Puck said, sitting down at the table next to Jesse. "Good for you. You know, I was in residency with a 50-year-old lawyer who changed careers. It's never too late. You know, the one thing I learned from almost dying? You have to live in the moment. That is the _best_ that we can do."

"I hope I didn't make a huge mistake tonight. Because right now it really feels like I did."

"I have to show you something. Come on," Puck said, getting up from the table.

The two of them walked to a recovery room where the man was recovering from his heart surgery. "See what's going on in that room? That's because of you. That girl has her father back because of you. Doesn't feel like a huge mistake to me."

"Thanks Puck."

Puck started to walk off then turned back around. "You know, it's about an 80 percent pay cut, but we have an opening for a physician's assistant. You know what it is. It's a lot of scut work and paperwork and a lot of ego humbling but if you really want to pass your boards and be a doctor there's no better way to learn."

Jesse started laughing. "A physician's assistant?"

"Yep. And with your med school, you're more than qualified. Just think about it. And if you hate it, you can always quit. You have the speech down."

At the end of the shift, Puck met up with Finn in the lobby. "So I talked to the surgeon," Puck started. "He said you gave him the 15 thousand to pay for Trisha's operation."

"Really?" Finn said nonchalantly.

"And then Sam said he saw your bookie riding off on your old Harley. Selling Thad's old bike…that was an unbelievably amazing thing you did for her, Finn. Of course, if you want to pay me back the 800 bucks that you owe me…" Puck trailed off.

Finn started laughing. "Yeah. I don't know man. I learned I need to let some of Thad go. You know, figure out what's me and what's me trying to be like him. I thought maybe it could help both of us move on from a bad hand."

"I hope it does," Puck said. "I love you brother."

"I love you too. And you're never getting the money back."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Puck asked good naturedly.

"Puck, Finn, you guys need to see this," Mercedes said, peeking her head out from the break room.

Finn met up with Rachel in the doorway and they shared a smile as Kurt walked by. "What's going on?" Finn asked.

"Santana uploaded a video of you and Rachel from back in the day," Kurt said as he took a sip of coffee.

Santana looked around Kurt. "Halloween at our apartment. Remember?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"Oh god. Oh god no," Rachel said, covering her face with her hands as everyone started laughing.

Puck turned towards the computer and saw Finn dressed as Hermione Granger and Rachel dressed as Harry Potter. "I think I just found my new screen saver."

"Nice legs, Hermione," Sam said to Finn.

"Okay, okay. Not Hermione. Her-MAN-ee. You know? And Rachel is Harry Paw-ter. Like the paws on the tie? The costume shop was very specific about that," Finn said as the video changed to Rachel smacking Finn's thigh with a wand for the camera.

"I had a little too much tequila that night," Rachel said, looking at the screen through her fingers. "Revenge is swift." Rachel said, turning to Santana.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. How the hell did Finn score those tickets?"

"What tickets? What are you talking about?" Rachel asked, completely confused.

"The Spice Girls. Front row. Two weeks from Friday. You and me!"

A look of excitement crossed Rachel's face. "Oh my god, are you serious?"

"Yes!" Santana squealed. "It's unbelievable."

Rachel nodded and turned around to face Finn. She walked towards him and led him out of the break room.

The two of them walked to the elevator in silence and got in behind a huge rush of people. "So, how'd you score those tickets?" Rachel asked, leaning against the bar in the back of the elevator. "They were sold out months ago."

"I got them months ago. I knew you'd like them," Finn said.

Rachel smiled and ran her hand down his arm and took his hand in hers slowly. She kept looking forward as the elevator doors open. She waited for the people on the elevator to leave before she started walking towards the front of the elevator. Finn went to step around her and she put her arm out to stop him from moving. The doors started closing and Rachel pulled the emergency handle.

"What are you doing?" Finn asked.

Rachel gave him a flirty shrug and started unbuttoning the first few buttons of her plaid shirt. She stopped in front of him and pulled the tops over her shoulders.

"I thought you wanted to take it slow?" Finn said with a slight hitch in his voice.

Rachel ran her hands down his shirt and looked back up at him. "I lied."

Their lips crashed into each other's and she wrapped her hands around his neck. Finn lifted her up and automatically her legs went around his waist as he backed her up against the elevator wall as they kept kissing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Back At The Ranch**

 **Author's Note: Here is Chapter Two of the newest installment of Pumping Blood! I apologize for the very rudimentary Spanish that is in this chapter. I took four years of French in high school and used Google Translate for help. So if it's wrong, I'm sorry. As always, I don't own Glee, The Night Shift, or any of their characters.**

"Hey Finn!" Puck said at the beginning of their shift that happened to be one of Finn's first shifts back. "Listen, about Rachel…"

"Listen, we're taking it slow. Just one day at a time," Finn said, trying to reassure his best friend.

"I don't care about that. I just want to know if she plans on taking this job back."

"I don't know. I mean, I know she prefers look after patients than running the night shift but she likes being in charge. Wait, you want the job. You're starting a coup."

"No, I'm not starting a coup. I hated the job at first, but Quinn wants to stay home with the twins and I think this would make that possible."

Finn nodded and looked his best friend in the eyes. "So you're starting a coup."

"Stop saying that. That's not my intention here."

"Whatever you say," Finn said with a chuckle. "Just ask her."

"You know, I would. But I don't want it to get weird between me and her so I was hoping you would ask her. That way if she wants—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm not getting in between the two of you," Finn said.

"Help! Help me!" someone said from the entrance of the hospital.

"Good luck with talking to Rachel," Finn said, giving Puck a pat on the shoulder before springing into action. "I need a gurney here. What happened?" Finn asked the husband as he laid her down on the gurney.

"A couple of weeks ago, I had some cattle stolen so when I heard a noise in the barn…"

"You shot her?" Finn asked.

"It was an accident! She was supposed to be at her book club. I didn't mean to shoot her; she came home early."

"What's her name?" Finn asked as he started putting on the medical gloves.

"Melissa."

"Okay, sir, I need you to stay here," Finn said, pointing to the space outside of the trauma room. "Sam, I need two large-bore IVs and lets unbundle her. Artie, let's go," Finn said.

"Stats are only at 84 percent," Sam said.

"Okay. Melissa? Can you hear me?" Finn asked. "Everything is going to be all right. Your husband is outside and he's waiting to take you home. We just need to fix you up a little bit. I need you to fight with me, okay?"

"It was a good book," Melissa wheezed.

"Yeah?" Finn said, hoping that her talking was a good thing.

"The Great Gatsby."

"Really? Tell me all about it. Keep talking to me," Finn said, checking to make sure her pupils weren't dilating at all. "I've never seen it."

"Better than the movie."

"I think we got a GSW to the left chest. Sam, open a chest tube tray and prep for a thoracotomy," Finn said, moving around the gurney.

"There's no breath sounds on the left side," Artie said from where he was standing. "It's a collapsed lung, right?"

"No, it's worse. We have a tension pneumothorax. We have a shifted trachea and extended neck vein. I need a 10 blade," Finn said to Sam. "Set up for intubation; I can't feel a pulse."

The husband, standing outside and hearing all of this, rushed in to the trauma room. "It was an accident!"

"Sam, Sam! Get him out of here."

"Sir, I know this is tough, but you have to wait outside. I know, I know," Sam said, ushering him out of the trauma room so Finn and Artie could work on saving her life.

In the lobby of the hospital, Mercedes stepped out of the elevator and almost ran into Chavez. "There you are," he said, getting off the skateboard. "We have a pancreatic tumor with our name on it."

Mercedes' eyes widened. "A pancreaticduodenectomy?"

"Yeah, but we just call it a whipple. But I love the enthusiasm. I'll see you in 30 minutes?"

"I'll grab us coffees!" Mercedes said, taking off down the hallway.

Puck was walking the hallways of the hospital when Kurt came up to him. "What's going on in there?" Kurt asked, seeing the room with Melissa in it.

"Husband accidentally shot his wife."

"If anyone can save her, it's Finn," Kurt said, giving his friend a vote of confidence.

"Don't put that kind of pressure on him. He already does enough of that himself. Why are you here on your night off?" Puck asked, watching Kurt stock up on medical supplies.

"Signed up for vet duty."

"Well aren't you dedicated."

Kurt sighed. "To be honest, I was itching to get out of the house."

"You and Blaine are still…"

"Yeah, it's just…tough right now. It's just wearing me down because he's so negative all the time and it's just hard to be around. I get it completely but it's just tough."

"You can't blame the guy. I mean, my back pain – it makes me want to punch somebody. I can't imagine if I lost my leg."

"Me neither. He just needs to see a specialist at the intrepid and then everything will be better once he gets his new prosthetic and he starts rehab."

"When's that?"

"Ah, that's the million dollar question," Kurt said. "We're waiting for a referral from this Doctor Lincoln at the VA. Could be tomorrow, could be when pigs fly."

Over the PA system, Rachel got called to the trauma room where Finn was working and she burst through the doors while tying back her hair. "Rach, good, I need another set of hands," Finn said, trauma gown covered with blood.

"Where are you?" Rachel asked, stepping behind Artie and Finn.

"Three units of blood, fiver internal defibrillations, four rounds of epi, two bicarb, still no response," Artie said.

"No cardiac activity?" Rachel asked.

"Not for the last 15 minutes."

"I'm repairing the ventricle now. If we could just clamp the aorta—" Finn said.

"Got it," Rachel said, moving around him to get in a better position. "The ventricle's shredded."

"Clamp across the artery. There," Finn said.

"Okay. Clamp is on," Rachel said. "It's not working."

"I'm done," Finn said as the heart monitor continued to beep.

"Finn, there's still no cardiac activity."

"No, I just need the paddles," Finn said. "I need two more units of blood. Clear," Finn said as he shocked the heart. "Okay good. I need saline wide open. I need five units of epi. I'm going to put it straight into her heart. Paddles again, paddles again."

"Finn," Rachel whispered. "She's gone. You need to call it."

Finn pulled the paddles out of the woman's heart and shot a glare in Rachel's direction. "Time of death, 19:05," Finn ripped off the surgical gloves and walked out of the trauma room.

"That was brutal." Artie said.

Rachel sighed. "He hasn't lost anyone in a long time." She looked out of the trauma room and saw the woman's husband start crying as Finn tried to comfort him.

After he had a little time to cool off, Rachel found him in the break room, listening to music on his phone and tossing the cue ball from the pool table. "Hey. Finn," He looked up at her and kept the headphones in. "You want some company?" Finn looked back down at his phone and Rachel sat down next to him. He took out his headphones and turned his attention to her. "You okay?"

Finn chuckled as he stood up. "I've seen a lot of people die. But you never get used to it. You learn to deal with it."

"Finn, you did everything you could."

"See, if I did everything I could, then I would have saved her. Did you see the look on her husband's face? Being responsible for someone else's death—"

Finn was cut off by the door to the break room opening. "Hey we just got a call. Ranch party outside of Yocum. High school kids, booze, and drugs. Multiple injuries. Paramedics just arrived and Santana said there's one patient she can't move. She asked for you, Finn."

"I'm on it," Finn said.

Rachel sighed and pushed herself off the couch. "Wait, Finn," She followed him out of the break room to the nurses' station. "Please remember you can only do your best."

"Let's just hope it's good enough," Finn said, grabbing the medical bag and jacket as he started walking off.

A girl wearing an evening gown and a large tiara stumbled into the hospital as Finn was leaving. "Look," Rachel said to Sam, nodding towards the girl. She bit her lip and gave her a small wave.

The girl gave her a glazed over wave back. "Can you…" she started before collapsing on the floor.

"We should probably see what that's all about," Rachel said.

"Gurney!" Sam called.

At the scene of the accident, Finn had just arrived when Santana started giving directions. "Over here and this way. Finn, follow me. Two kids pile onto the ATV and tried to outrun the cops. The driver lost control and ran into the barbed wire. I didn't know what to do but I figured you must have seen something like this in Afghanistan."

"Yeah, I did see something like this in Afghanistan. Didn't end well. We need to get this barbed wire out of him or he's going to bleed out."

"Can I get an officer to move these kids out of here, please?" Santana said, trying to give Finn as much space to work as possible. "Everybody back up."

"I need bolt cutters to get most of these barbs out. I could pull the wire trimmer and save the small bowel."

One of the drunk girls finally noticed what was going on. "Oh my God, what happened to Brian?" she asked with a laugh.

Santana rolled her eyes and turned around. "Ladies, I need you to step back and sit down, alright?" She turned her attention back to Finn. "IV is in."

"Thanks Santana," Finn looked up at the friend of the guy he was working on. "So, buddy. What's your names?"

"Terrence. And that's Brian."

"Good, Terrence. Can you hold that IV for me?"

"We took off when the cops got here," Terrence said, walking around to hold the IV bag. "I swerved when we saw the barbed wire but Brian flew straight into it."

"Let me take a look at your shoulder," Santana said. "I think you dislocated it."

"No, I don't even feel it," Terrence said. "Just fix my friend. Please."

"How long have you guys been buddies? Tell me about it," Finn said.

"We've been playing ball together since we were like eight years old. A coach from Arizona State came by to watch us play tonight."

"How'd it go?" Santana asked.

"He offered us both scholarships. All we ever wanted was to play ball in college together. And now I messed it up."

"Santana, I need some irrigation," Finn said. He turned to Brian. "Hey, I know it hurts, but you're tough as nails. Push another five of morphine."

"Brian this is going to help," Santana said as she gave him the morphine. "You're doing great, okay?" Santana looked up at Finn. "The guy in Afghanistan? He worse than this?"

"He's different. About the same age as this kid, except he had a few live RPGs in his gut."

Santana's eyes widened. "Oh my God."

"You know what he said to me? He said he was sorry for getting me into this mess. He was afraid of getting me killed."

"You must have been scared to death."

"Well, actually, the only thing I could think of was 'Well, if this goes off, there'd be nothing left of me to send home to Rachel and my mom'," Finn said as he started laughing.

"You're lucky it didn't go off," Santana said.

"Oh no, it did. I stepped away for a few seconds to talk to Puck. He was going to help me take the RPG out. Lenny Ross. Nice kid from Philly. I can still see the pimples on his chin. But, you know, there's no RPG here, right? Get another five of morphine ready."

"Standing by," Santana said.

"Hey, Puck!" Jesse said, coming up to him during one of his first shifts as a physician's assistant. "I finished all your paperwork, and I was just wondering if there's a chance I get to work on actual patients tonight. I'm not just a secretary, you know. I do have four years of med school."

Puck rolled his eyes before turning back to Jesse. "I know you have four years of medical school. You remind us every chance you get. I will get you some patients, but first, I lost my thera-strap. Could you find one for me? I need a number 10."

"Thera-strap…" Jesse said.

"You didn't study that in your four years of med school?" Puck asked. He looked up from the paperwork he was filing out. "Never mind. Hey Molly, I need a number 10 thera-strap for my back."

"Oh, okay, right away Puck," Molly said.

"No, it's fine. I'll get it. Thera-strap. Coming right up," Jesse said, smiling at the two of them before walking off.

Puck waited until Jesse was out of earshot before turning back to Molly. He smiled at her and she smiled back. "Thera-strap. It almost sounds like a real thing," she said, trying to hold back laughter.

"Just getting him back for all those years of torturing us. We've got to break this pony and put a saddle on him. You down for some hazing?" Puck asked, handing Molly a prescription for a patient.

"Oh Puck, honey, I am always down for some hazing."

"Spread the word," he whispered.

In the trauma room with the girl from the pageant, Rachel and Sam were trying to figure out what was happening to her. "BP is 90 systolic, heart rate is up to 120 and glucose is 168," Sam said, reading her labs.

"So she's not hyperglycemic but her heart rate is out of control," Rachel said, trying to figure out what's going on.

"Rachel, I have a patient, so tell me what's going on if you need me," Sam said.

"Okay thanks," Rachel said before turning to the patient. She took a deep breath, trying to remember Spanish from high school. "Hola. Como se llama?"

"Sandra."

"Sandra, Doctor Berry. Uh, por favor, puedes cambiar su vesitdo?" Rachel asked, hoping she was saying the right words.

"Oh no, I want to leave my dress on."

"You speak English, great. Well, we need to do an EKG so we're going to need you to trade this gown for this gown. Sorry. Alright, let's see what we got here. Okay Sandra, are you currently on any medication?" Rachel started listening to her heart as Sandra shook her head. Rachel's eyebrow quirked. "Are you in any pain?"

"This was a mistake, I don't know why I came here," Sandra said, sitting up from the hospital bed. "I really have to go, someone's waiting for me and he will be worried."

Joey was outside of the trauma room and heard the fuss so he came in. "Looks like someone made the evening gown round."

"Yes, this is Sandra, she came in here tachy and hypotensive and I am guessing by her attire that maybe she took some diet pills."

"Yes, yes I did for the competition," Sandra said. "And I didn't win."

"Sandra, your heart is beating way too fast so we're going to give you some fluids and give you a sedative to calm down."

"My sister used to be involved in all this pageant craziness so she's probably taken a lot of diuretics too," Joey said.

"Yeah, I'll run a metabolic panel," Rachel said, feeling like her turf was being invaded. She watched Joey walk out of the room and turned back to her patient. "Sandra, you know you don't have to look like these women in the magazines."

"But that's how you win and that's how I can get money for college."

"I get it," Rachel said, trying to be assuring. "But you still have to take care of yourself. I'll be back to check on you," she said with a soft smile.

Sandra waited until Rachel left the room before pulling out her cell phone to start texting someone.

In the waiting room, Mercedes was walking towards the elevators with two coffees in her hand. Sam walked out of a supply closet and saw here. "Mercedes, wait up," he said, jogging to catch up to her. "I noticed you were gone when I woke up this morning."

"Yeah, I just had to go back to my apartment and grab my gym stuff."

Joey saw Mercedes talking with Sam in the hallway and walked up to her. "Is this coffee for me? Great," he said, taking it out of her hands. "Chip chop, we've got work to do."

Mercedes turned back to Sam with a sheepish look on her face. "Yeah, I'm just trying to kiss some ass."

"I'm fine with kissing ass. As long as it's not literally," Sam said, making the two of them start laughing as Mercedes pushed the button for the elevator. "You know you can leave some stuff at my place," Sam said as the smile on Mercedes' face started to slip. "I'll clean out a drawer for you."

"A drawer is never just a drawer," Mercedes said. The elevator doors open and she walked into them as Jesse walked out.

"That's cool, it'll save me some time. I'll see you."

"Yeah, see you," Mercedes said with a smile.

"Wow, legs like a gazelle on that one," Jesse said as the elevator doors closed and he started walking away.

"Th-that's incredibly inappropriate."

"I'm not the boss anymore. I am a physician's assistant now," Jesse said as the door behind him opened. Kurt saw that Jesse was standing there and ushered the man back inside before he could see what was going on.

"Emphasis on the word assistant," Sam said, trying to turn Jesse's attention away from the door. "Puck's looking for you," Sam said before he started walking away.

Jesse silently cursed himself. "Thera-strap."

In the room with the vets, Kurt was tapping on a woman's face. "You have a sinus infection. I'll write you a prescription for Augmentin. Take it two times a day for ten days and use the nasal spray at bed time." He felt his phone start to vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out. "Excuse me," Kurt said, seeing it was a call from Blaine. "Hey. I know the Vicodin makes you nauseous. That's why you should take the Zofran." Kurt sighed. "No, his office hasn't called. Blaine, it's the middle of the night. His office is closed and I can't make him call me. Okay. I love you too. I gotta go," Kurt said, hanging up the phone. He turned back to the vets and sighed. "Does anyone know a Doctor Lincoln at the VA?"

"He's my friend's doc," one of the patients said. "She calls him Doctor Black Hole. It took six months for her to get a referral for a podiatrist."

"Did she try changing primary physicians?"

"She tried but they told her she'd go to the back of the line."

"Great," Kurt said.

Back at the ranch, they were working on getting Brian to the ambulance to take him back to the hospital. "Damn it," Finn said. "Barbs are imbedded too deeply in this section of the small bowel. Every time I try to cut the ends, he bleeds."

"Let's get him to the hospital. Get me a board," Santana said to the other paramedics. "The bleeding's getting worse. We're losing him."

"He's not going to make it like this. I have to stop the bleeding. Let's get him into the ambulance and I'll start the surgery."

"You want to do surgery in the ambulance?" Santana asked incredulously.

"No, but it's that or he dies," Finn said as they loaded him in.

"He's got a pulse and shallow breathing," Santana said, informing the paramedics for the ambulance.

"Let's go," Finn said, climbing into the ambulance with Terrence right behind him. "We need to get him on high flow oxygen. Damn it, he's hemorrhaging. I can't figure out what's bleeding."

"So what do we do?" Santana asked.

"It's his iliac artery. Hand me my suture kit. I need something to clamp the distal and the proximal to the tear."

"Hemostats?"

"Yeah, place them right there. See, there's the laceration."

Back at the hospital, Rachel went into the trauma room to check up on Sandra. "Hey Sandra. How're you feeling?" She looked at her blankly. "Okay. Well, just so you know, I did some research online and I found a few organizations where you can apply for college scholarships and—"

"You don't know anything about my life," Sandra said, cutting her off.

"You're right, I don't. I just—"

"You're just a rich, pretty, American doctor. You don't know me or what I have to do. So don't pretend like you can come in here—"

"Her heart rate is up in the 150s," Sam said, turning to Rachel.

"That's really strange. She's gotten worse with the benzos." Rachel took her stethoscope off from around her neck and put it to Sandra's heart. "She's in atrial fibrillation. Sam, bolus her five of metoprolol. Sandra, we're going to give you new medication. Sorry that I meddled."

"All set," Sam said when he got the medicine added to the IV.

"Okay, let's check on her every 15 minutes," Rachel said as she left the trauma room.

In the lobby, Puck was making an announcement to everyone coming in from the ranch party. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our PSA on how _not_ to party. These guys are tripping out on 'shrooms, this guy fell off a barn hiding from the cops and has blunt head trauma and open forearm fracture. These girls are blind drunk, someone get the vomit buckets. I want 'shrooms in three, drunkies in exam one and two, Artie, you're on broken arm anywhere that's open. Ah, Jesse," Puck said, holding out an arm to stop him. "It's your moment to shine. Forget about the thera-strap for now. Place some IV and hang some fluids."

"I am all over it. Oh, Puck, I should order tox screens and alcohol levels too, right?"

"Gold star for you."

"I need a trauma panel and four units of O-negative. Molly, notify Doctor Chavez and tell him he has an emergency case. I repaired the iliac but he needs a formal laparotomy. Push two grams of cefotetan," Finn said, coming into the hospital.

"Good job out there, Finn," Santana said, handing him some papers.

"What's happening, is he getting operated on?" Terrence asked Finn.

"Yeah, they're just prepping for the OR. Don't worry about it."

"It's all my fault. I dragged him to the party."

"Are you telling me that he had no interesting in partying with hot chicks and he just wanted to stay home and play chess? We have our top surgeon working on it. He'll be fine, I promise."

"Can't you do it?" Terrence asked.

"No. It's not my job." Finn said, signing the paperwork from Santana. He handed it to one of the nurses and turned back to Terrence. "Look, if it makes you feel better, I'll go keep an eye on him. Yeah?" Finn looked around the ER. "This is Sam," he said, gesturing for Sam to come over. "He's going to look after you and set you for your shoulder."

"Terrence, right? I've been to a couple of your games. My little cousin's on the team. Ray Evans?"

"Ray Ray? He's one of my best linebackers."

"He's alright, but you…you're the man."

"Thanks," Terrence said. "Ray said something about you. You played in college, right?"

"Yeah, something like that." Sam said, leading him into an exam room.

"Too bad you're old now," Terrence said with a slight chuckle. "Think you could still play? You look to be in okay shape."

"Okay? Don't let the scrubs fool you," Sam pulled him his scrubs top to show Terrence his abs. "You can crack an egg on these bad boys." Sam laughed as he dropped the top. "Look, I have to finish up some paperwork then I'll be back in a second. Sound good?"

Back at the nurses' station, Rachel was doing some paperwork and Puck was coming up to talk to her. "So, what's the story with the beauty queen?"

"She's in a-fib. I have her on beta blockers to rate control. I also managed to insult her by giving her advice that she certainly didn't ask for nor am I qualified to give."

"Well that's what you're good at," Puck said before realizing what he'd said. "Giving advice. I mean, you're not afraid to…I'm gonna go back to my reports."

"So, what's the deal with that? Every time I look up, you're buried in paperwork," Rachel said, gesturing to the growing pile on the desk.

"You know, it really sucks. You are going to hate it. When they didn't replace Jesse, all this work fell on me. And eventually you. You know, when you…you take your job back."

Rachel gave Puck a weird look and saw an opportunity to escape when she saw Kurt walking by. "Kurt! I didn't know you were here tonight," Rachel said, brushing past Puck.

"Yeah, working with the vets. That's the seventh time Blaine has called me. I don't even know what to say to him anymore. I can't force his VA doctor to see him."

"It's a mess over there."

"And it's driving me crazy. I'm a problem solver. I'm the guy who builds your IKEA furniture, I figure out what's wrong with your car, but the stuff with Blaine…I don't know how to fix."

"He probably wants you to be there for him," Rachel said. "Like a shoulder to cry on." Rachel's pager went off and she fished it out of her pocket and sighed. "It's my beauty queen. I'm sorry. Why don't you have breakfast with us after the shift? We'll work it out."

In the room with the two drunk girls, Jesse was trying to stick an IV in one of their arms. "I don't understand," she said, looking at what Jesse was doing.

"What are you doing?" Molly said, coming into the exam room.

"Starting an IV," Jesse said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"No, you're stabbing this girl all over the place. You're lucky she's too drunk to know the difference. Give me that." Molly said, taking the needle from Jesse.

"I'm not drunk," the girl slurred

"Of course. That's right baby," Molly said.

"What's going on in here?" Artie asked as he walked in.

"Jesse's slashing this girl like Jason from Halloween."

"It wasn't that bad," Jesse said.

"I love Halloween," the drunk girl said from bed.

"Well, if you want, I can show you," Artie said. "Molly, I got it."

"Bye Molly. I'll miss you."

"So, my trick is, here you go," Artie said, handing the girl a soft ball to squeeze. "I have them squeeze the ball."

"That's what she said."

"No, you mean that's what _he said_ ," the other drunk girl said.

Back in Sandra's trauma room, Rachel was trying to get up to speed. "What's wrong?"

"She got three liters of saline and two rounds of metoprolol but her heart rate keeps going up."

"Okay, get me another EKG and start her on amiodarone."

In another exam room, Puck was doing an ultrasound on an expectant mother. "Everything's great. Baby's heartbeat is fine. I think you're just having a little indigestion." He heard the door open and turned around to see Jesse. "Hey. Becca, this is Jesse. Do you need something?"

"I've done five IVs, ordered tox screens on everybody, cleaned up a lot of vomit."

"But still no thera-strap?"

"No. PT says they need to order it."

"They always say that," Puck said.

"It's just…when you gave me this job, you said I'd be doing medicine."

"Well, that list you gave me seems pretty substantial for a physician's assistant. I mean, five IVs means five patients. Why don't you be responsible for them and check their blood work?"

Jesse nodded. "Right."

Puck listened for the door to shut and turned his attention back to the patient. "We love messing with that guy."

In Brian's trauma room, he was still getting prepped for surgery. "Antibiotics are running in," the nurse said.

"Good. Blood pressure's up to 90 over 45. That's good news."

"I heard you performed an iliac repair in a moving ambulance," Chavez said to Finn when he got to the trauma room. "That's very impressive."

"It wasn't my first choice but the packing wasn't slowing down the bleeding."

"So he would have bled out. It was a good call," Chavez took a look at the wound on the patient. "I can work with that. Let's get him to the OR."

"I'll be right behind you," Finn said, working on getting the bed rails put up to move the patient to the OR.

"You wanna observe?" Chavez asked, slightly confused as to what was going on.

"Oh no. I'm gonna help you out."

"Heather, let's get Brian prepped for surgery and I'll be right behind you," Chavez said to the nurse. He waited until Heather left the room before turning back to Finn. "I heard about how you banged heads with Brody. I know you even fought."

"Well, I wouldn't listen to what he says about me," Finn said.

"No, I know it's personal. Guy moves down here to be with his girlfriend only to find out she's in love with her old boyfriend? I mean, I'd be pissed too."

"Is there a point here?" Finn asked.

"The point is, that's not our history. We have more in common. We both served, we both saw some things we wish we didn't see…I just like to think we have a bond in that."

"Is this your way of telling me you don't want me in the OR?"

"Nope. I just don't want the usual ER/surgery conflict. You're welcome to come up there anytime. You just have to respect that I'm in charge, just like I respect that you're in charge down here. You trust my leadership the way I trust yours," Chavez said.

"Hey, Finn," Sam said from the door to the trauma room. "You got a sec? Rachel needs you."

"Yeah," Finn said, winking at his friend.

"See, there's already not enough of you to go around," Chavez said with a slight laugh. "Come on up if you're able to."

When Finn got to the trauma room, things weren't going well with Sandra. "I have a young healthy female in a-fib. Cardiac markers and electrolytes look normal. She's been given three rounds of beta blockers plus amiodarone and she's just getting worse," Rachel said.

"Look at her BP," Finn said.

"I know. That's after 15 metoprolol. It doesn't make any sense," Rachel said as she started to pump oxygen for Sandra.

Finn pulled back her blankets. "Hey, Rach?"

Rachel looked down and saw all the blood. "What? There was no chest trauma."

"Let's go. Strip and flip," Finn said to Sam.

"Sandra, we're going to figure out what's going on with you," Rachel said. She looked at Sandra's chest once the hospital gown was off. "Are those implants? God, they look like they were done by a butcher."

"Bargain basement cosmetic surgery." Finn said.

"Implants shouldn't make her this sick, this fast."

"Is she getting septic?" Finn asked.

"She doesn't have a fever and her blood pressure is going up, not down," Rachel said. "She's seizing. Give me a bite block," Rachel said.

"Grab at least 10 milligrams of diazepam," Finn said to Sam as he left the trauma room.

"Stats are dropping. Hand me a non-rebreather," Rachel said.

"Hey, Rach, there's something in there," Finn said.

Rachel got the mask on her and looked. "Oh my God."

"She's crashing," Finn said.

"Push the diazepam. We need to get whatever's inside of her out now," Rachel said.

"Diazepam going in," Sam said.

"Scalpel," Rachel said. She cut along the suture lines that were still there. She pulled something out and handed it to Finn. "That is not an implant."

"Is that cocaine?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Must have leaked into her system," Finn said. "That explains the crazy vitals. She's got a highway of cocaine flowing into her bloodstream."

"Give her IV phentolamine," Rachel said, trying to get more of the cocaine out. "This explains why the beta blockers were making her worse. Who the hell would do this to her?"

"BP is coming down."

"Finally," Rachel sighed.

"What happened to the good ole days of just hiding drugs up your butt?" Sam asked. Both Rachel and Finn gave him weird looks.

Jesse walked into the exam room with the two drunk girls and turned off the lights. "Ooohhh," one of them said.

"Shut up," Jesse said.

"What the hell are you doing now?" Molly asked.

"I just got the girls' blood work back. Their alcohol level is zero, but there's an anion gap acidosis. Look at them. They're completely wasted. Check this out," Jesse said, flashing a UV light on the urine same.

"Damn," Molly said. "That is weird."

"See how the urine glows?"

"How's it going?" Artie said, coming into the room.

"Jesse's a pee detective now."

"See this?" Jesse said. "I think it's antifreeze. I bet they made their own moonshine. Our alcohol test only checks for ethanol, but antifreeze has ethylene glycol which would explain the acidosis."

"So you're a toxicologist now?" Artie said.

"No. We just covered toxic alcohols in my board review class if you must know."

One of the monitors started beeping like crazy. "Whoa," Artie said. "They're both crashing. Molly, get Puck."

"There you are." Finn said a little bit later, finding Rachel in the break room. "What are you doing?"

Rachel was hanging off one of the couches while eating a bag of Doritos. "I used to do this all the time in college when the answer was right in front of me and didn't think of it. Just ask Santana."

Finn chuckled to himself and went over to the couch. He sat down next to Rachel's feet. She sat up and extended the bag of Doritos towards him. "Where'd you find these? I thought the Doritos were all out."

"They are. I buy large bags of them and leave them in random places," she said, biting into one of the chips. "Don't tell anyone."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Finn said, taking a handful and putting them all into his mouth at once.

"That's disgusting," Rachel said as she started laughing. "Finn, I'm sorry about your patient earlier. I probably could have handled that a little better."

"Yeah, well I probably could have done the same. It just hit hard, you know?"

Rachel frowned and pushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, I do," She ran her hand down his cheek and gave him a quick kiss. "I shouldn't hang off the couch for so long. I'm a little dizzy now."

"And here I thought it was because you're in my presence," Finn said with a smirk. He heard his pager go off and brushed the cheese dust from the Doritos off his hands. "Puck needs me. You going to be okay?"

"I'm fine. I could be asking you the same thing," Rachel said.

"I'm fine too. I'll see you later, okay?" Finn said, standing up. He pressed a quick kiss to her head and left.

Rachel watched him walk off and stuck another Dorito in her mouth.

After Finn's talk with Rachel, he met up with Puck in the exam room. "You needed me?"

"Yeah, I need you to help me put this shoulder back in. Lie back, Terrence. This is a tough kid," Puck said. "He doesn't want to take a sedative for this procedure."

"You're going to regret that," Finn said, taking the dislocated shoulder while Puck wrapped a blanket around Terrence's chest.

"Heard it was crazy out there," Puck said.

"Like Lenny Ross without the RPG." Finn said.

"Oh wow, Lenny Ross. He'd be like, what, 28 by now?"

"Something like that. Okay Terrence. Puck's gonna brace you and I'm gonna pop your shoulder back in. You should have seen this kid out there, Puck. Really held it together for his buddy," Finn said, twisting his arm to get his shoulder back into socket.

"You okay?" Puck asked.

"Think so. Can I see Brian now?"

"No yet. He's still up in surgery." Puck said.

"I'll check in on him soon," Finn said. "You'll be in rehab for a few weeks and be in a sling but then you'll be good as new and ready to kick ass as ASU next year."

"Great, more reason for you to bet," Puck said with a joking tone in his voice. "This guy is out of control," Puck said, turning back to Terrence.

"I gotta give Finn props. He did a pretty good job considering the guy was ripped up by barbed wire," Chavez said to Mercedes in the OR.

"Well he was an Army doc. He's used to doing whatever it takes," Mercedes said.

"That's the problem with battlefield docs. They think they can do anything."

"Aren't you a battlefield doc?"

"I used to be," Chavez said, correcting her. "I used to be a lot of things. But, I want to know more about Doctor Mercedes Jones. No boyfriend, wants to be in emergency medicine, Dad's a doctor, both went to Harvard. How I'm doing?"

"I went to Stanford," Mercedes said with a smile. "On scholarship. And my father installs air conditioning systems, thank you very much."

"I stand corrected."

"And, uh, I wanted to be a doctor since I was nine."

"What, your hamster die and you couldn't save him?" Chavez said as he started laughing.

"My mother died of breast cancer," Mercedes said flatly, making Chavez immediately stop laughing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that. You had the genetic screening, right?"

"Uh, no," Mercedes said, started to get a little flustered.

"You should get that done. For all the people that care about you."

"Yeah well I've been a little busy," Mercedes snapped.

"For 20 years? What are you waiting for?" Chavez asked.

"Hey bud," Sam said to Kurt, meeting up with him at the nurses' station.

"Hey," Kurt said, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. "You know, it's amazing what you can find out about people on the internet."

"People post all kinds of weird stuff," Sam said, working on some paperwork. "What are you looking at? Anything juicy?"

"Just found the home address of Blaine's VA doctor. I'm gonna pay him a visit tonight and make him sign Blaine's referral request. And if that doesn't work, I found the name of his kid, so I'm just gonna call him and pretend he had an accident. Then he'll come down to the hospital and I'll make him sign them here."

"Yeah, that's great idea. When you get arrested for assault and battery, will you sell me your condo? Wait, no. You'll probably be dead from him shooting you."

"He wouldn't shoot me."

"What, are you new? Come on, let's take a walk. Now," Sam said.

Back in the exam room, the monitors were still beeping like crazy. "They have a wide anion gap acidosis," Puck said.

"So is it possible they drank the antifreeze?" Molly asked.

"It's very possible. They're in renal failure. Get me IV of fomepizole."

"We don't carry that in the ER," Jesse said.

"I can page a central pharmacy tech but it's going to take over an hour," Molly said.

"There's no time. We need beer," Puck said.

"Beer?" Artie asked.

"Jesse, someone has to have beer in their trunk. This is Texas. Go ask," Puck said.

Back in the lobby, Kurt and Sam were walking and talking. "Look, I know how you feel, okay? Me and my mom took care of my grandma. God knows I loved that woman like nobody's business. I mean, she was everything to me. But it was hard and nasty. No one prepares you for what it's like taking care of a sick family member. It makes you crazy, and right now, you're crazy," Sam said.

Kurt sighed. "Maybe it's not the best plan."

"It's a stupid plan."

"It's not a stu—"

"It's a stupid plan. You need to chill. You need to take care of yourself first. It's like you're on an airplane and they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first and then take care of your kid. Because if something happens to you, then what happens to them?"

"Did you just come up with that?"

"Maybe."

"That was good."

"Hey, Ray Ray's uncle?" Terrence said, coming up to Kurt and Sam. "Any chance I can get some more of those pain killers?"

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I have a real bad headache and—" he leaned over and threw up and crashed to the ground. Sam and Kurt went over to make sure everything with him was okay. "Get Finn," Sam said to one of the nurses.

"Everybody swears he doesn't drink or do drugs," Sam said when he got back to the trauma room.

"They're right," Finn said, doing an exam on Terrence. "He's got increased pressure on his brain but no sign of trauma."

"He had a game earlier today. He plays running back. He's probably been hit on the head 50 times. Maybe it's a concussion," Sam said.

"Yeah, but one concussion wouldn't do this to him." Kurt said.

"It could be second impact syndrome. If he had a concussion and didn't have time to recover from it, the hits he took today would explain the swelling from a hematoma," Finn said. "Push 100 grams of mannitol."

"Why would they play him if he's still recovering?" nurse Heather asked.

"This kid's an all star. He's never coming out of the game. Probably wouldn't tell them either since he's going for a scholarship," Sam said.

"Right pupil is dilating, call neurosurgery to get him up there," Finn said.

"He's posturing," Kurt said.

"His brain's already herniating. He needs a Burr hole to drain the hematoma," Finn said as they worked on getting the hospital bed flat. "Scalpel."

"This is nurse Sam Evans in the ER. I need neurosurgery. Doctor Johnson. It's 911," Sam said as Finn started drilling into Terrence's skull.

"I'm almost throw," Finn said, drilling a little more. "Okay, that should do it."

"Neurosurgeon is 15 minutes out."

"We need to get him to the OR now." Finn said as Sam took the brakes off the bed and they started running to the elevators.

In the other exam rooms, Puck and Jesse were injecting beer into the IVs to give to the drunk girls. "The alcohol competes with the ethylene glycol for the receptors," Puck said.

"Which stops the toxic conversion," Artie finished.

"Yeah, and it's a good excuse to always have a six-pack in your trunk. Good catch Molly." Puck said as Jesse's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"Yeah, Molly said she's brushing up on her toxicology and figured it all out," Puck said.

"I got lucky I guess," Molly said.

"That wasn't luck; that was knowledge." Puck said, enjoying the look of disgust on Jesse's face. "You've got a bright future, Molly. Now, how are you doing?" Puck asked, turning back to the patient. "Do you have a bright future?" She gave him a drowsy thumbs up. "Good. Jesse, I'd watch out for this one. She might be gunning for your job."

Molly smirked at him as her and Puck walked out of the exam room and Jesse turned to Artie. "Did that really just happen?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that. You know, a thera-strap…it's not really a thing. But you didn't hear that from me," Artie said.

Back in the trauma room with Sandra, Rachel was talking to her. "I heard you were asking for food, but unfortunately we can't let you eat until after the plastic surgeon fixes your sutures. Just try not to move around too much."

"Are you going to call the police?" Sandra asked weakly from the bed.

Rachel sighed. "I had to. I'm sorry. All you have to do is just tell them what happened." Rachel smiled at her and started walking away. "I'm going to say this because I just can't help myself." She turned around and walked back towards Sandra. "If you need a lawyer, I have a friend and she owes me a favor. I could talk to her and I'm sure she could take your case for free."

"Thank you. I know you're just trying to help."

"I'm gonna go call her," Rachel said.

Finn was walking the corridors with one of the nurses after getting Terrence to surgery. "Just keep me updated on his condition and let me know when his parents get here. I'm gonna check on his buddy Brian."

He walked into the OR and saw Joey and Mercedes working on Brian, seeming like they had everything under control. At least until the monitors started beeping like crazy. "Belly's filling," Joey said.

"He's getting tachy," Mercedes said, looking at the heart monitor.

"What's happening?" Finn said, coming into the OR.

"We don't know. We're trying to figure it out," Joey said.

"I'm scrubbing in."

"I'd be shocked if you didn't."

Back at the nurses' station, Jesse slammed a plunger down on the paperwork Puck was working on. "I found your thera-strap. Number 10. Hope you enjoy it and I hope everyone had a good laugh," Jesse said.

"We did have a good laugh," Molly said, not bothering to hold back her laughter anymore.

"Tell him the save was my idea," Jesse said.

"She gave you credit right from the top," Puck said with a smile on his face. "This is a big team, Jesse. We're just trying to help you fit in."

Jesse curtly nodded and walked off.

"Sandra, I—" Rachel said, walking into the trauma room where Sandra was. Only Sandra wasn't there and the bed sheets were crumpled at the edge of the bed. Rachel walked in and saw the hospital gown and the pads to stop the bleeding tossed on the floor. "Oh my God."

In the OR, Finn and Joey were talking and getting to know each other a little better. "It's been one of those nights. I must have been sloppy, suturing in the ambulance."

"You stopped the bleeding, you just accidentally cut off the blood flow."

"I screwed up, I should have just repacked the abdomen."

"Finn, I know vascular surgeons that have made the same mistake. And they didn't have the excuse of being in a moving ambulance. I just need to cut the suture and it'll pink right up. Trust me. Let's get the bowel reperfused," Joey said.

"More Motown? Do you ever listen to anything else?" Mercedes asked as the music kept playing in the OR.

"Not when I'm working," Joey said.

"It's not so bad," Finn said.

"Okay, needle driver to Doctor Hudson," Joey said with a nod.

Back in the lobby the elevator opened and Molly stepped out. "Anything?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing."

"Molly!" Rachel called, walking around the nurses' station. She looked down at a blood trail and started opening the doors around to see if she could find Sandra. The two of them followed the blood trail to the nursery, where they found bloody handprints on the door. Rachel pushed the door open and saw Sandra curled up on the floor. "Honey, let me see you," Rachel said. She gently took one of Sandra's hands and pulled it away from her chest. It was covered in blood. "You tore your stitches. Molly, can you get a gurney please?" She took a deep breath. "Honey, I don't know your life, but I know that running away is not going to help you."

"He said he would take those things out but I started to get sick in the car ride on the way to the place. And they pushed me out on the street corner and now I'm going to jail." Sandra said as she started to cry.

"He's your boyfriend, isn't he?" Rachel took her silence as confirmation. "Here's how I see it. He let someone mutilate your body, he asked you to commit a crime for him, and then he left you alone to die. You don't deserve this. You're going to be okay," Rachel said, pushing the hair back from Sandra's face.

After Brian's surgery, Finn and Joey were coming out of the OR. "Great job in there," Finn said.

"Thanks. But you saved his life. All we did was a bit of housekeeping," Joey said, taking off the trauma gown and his surgical gloves.

"It was more than that. Thanks for letting me assist."

"Thanks for pissing Brody off and opening up this job for me," Joey said with a slight laugh.

"No problem on that one. I'm gonna go talk to the mom," Finn said, taking off the gloves and walking away.

"That was nice of you," Mercedes said.

"I heard he lost a patient earlier. I used to know a lot of guys like him. Hell, I used to be like him. Take losses pretty hard. I'm just trying not to be a dick. That's my mantra."

"I think you and Finn have a budding bromance," Mercedes said as they started walking. "He clearly likes you."

"He's not the one I'm concerned about liking me," Joey said, making Mercedes' eyes widen. "Don't panic, I wasn't talking about you. I was thinking about asking Rachel out. I don't think the two of them are right for each other."

"You know, um, I'm not sure that—" Mercedes stuttered.

Joey cut her off with him laughing. "Look at your face. I got you."

"Oh my God," Mercedes said, rolling her eyes. "It was just for a second."

"It still counts," Joey said. "I'll see you later. Oh, for the coffee next time, no sugar. It's the silent killer." He pushed open the doors to the OR floor and left.

Back at the nurses' station, Jesse came up with a box and Rachel stood next to Puck while they both worked on paperwork. "Present for you," she said, laying another file folder on Puck's already massive pile.

"Thanks a lot."

"No problem."

"How'd it work out with the runaway beauty queen?"

"We'll see. I'm not too optimistic about her future if that's her taste in men. What about you? How you feeling? Ready to leave the desk work behind?"

"I'm definitely feeling better but being the boss does not suck."

Rachel tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and turned to face Puck. "You've been hinting at something all night. What gives?"

"We've known each other for a long time. I just don't want things to get weird between us."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You want to keep the job. Is that it?"

"Not if…not if you want it."

"You're saying you only want it if I don't want it." Rachel asked, trying to get to the bottom of this.

"I don't want it if you…let's do this. Count of three, we both say what we want. Okay? One, two, three. I want the job," Puck said.

"I don't want it," Rachel said, a smile appearing on her face. "Congratulations, you're the boss."

"I'm so glad we got to work this out like grownups."

"Definitely," Rachel said. "Oh, Puck? Why do you have a plunger?"

"Well, this used to be a plunger. Now…it's a scepter!" Puck said, raising it like a sword.

"Oh boy. Word of advice: don't let the power go to your head."

"It is too late, my friend," Puck said, tripping over something. He looked down and noticed a bunch of bedpans chained to his leg. "Very funny. Prank the boss."

"Wasn't me," Rachel said before she started walking away.

"I wonder who did that," Sam said.

"Oh yes, I wonder," Jesse said.

"Wait, you did that? It's not bad," Sam said, giving him a high five. His eyes widened when he saw a "Kick Me" sign tapped to the back of Molly's scrubs.

"That was me too," Jesse said, smiling after his work. "I can play just as hard as they can."

"I'd keep that quiet. Nobody messes with Molly."

Finn walked into Terrence's hospital room. "How are you doing?"

"Didn't you hear? They say I'll never be able to play ball again."

"I did hear. It's a tough break."

"You think? They told me Brian's gonna be fine."

"He'll make a full recovery. And you helped with that. I'm sorry. I wish you could—"

"Hey, Finn, I got this one," Sam said, coming into the recovery room. Finn nodded and Sam came into the room. "You know, I've been where you are. I have a five-star recruit, all American, 20 some odd scholarships…"

"I don't want to hear about your stupid glory days," Terrence said.

"That's true. My glory days. My glory days ended my freshmen year when I fractured my back in training camp. Never got to play a game. I spent an entire year in traction so trust me, I do get where you're coming from."

"Great. So this is what I have to look forward to. Being a nurse. Maybe I can clean some bed pans."

"I'm sorry. You may not want to talk right now, and I get that. If you change your mind, and want to talk about anything at all, I'm around. I'll let you get some rest and I'll check on you later. Just don't forget what I said."

At the end of the shift, Santana came up to Rachel at the nurses' station. "Please tell me you're done with those forms. I had 10 runs in four hours and I need food."

Rachel put her pen down and looked for something. "Here you go, darling. Put this in your piehole and give me another minute."

"I'm not a huge fan of cranberry," Santana said, looking at the wrapper.

"Eat it." Rachel said.

Finn came out from an exam room and walked over to where Rachel was. "Hey, you up for breakfast?" Rachel asked, putting her hand over Finn's.

"Not today," Finn said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I just need to be on my own for a little bit. I'll call you later."

"You sure you're all right?" Rachel asked in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, I just keep thinking about the woman I lost today."

"Worst part of the job."

"I'll be okay," Finn said, tapping the desk. "I promise." Finn said, holding out his knuckles for Rachel to tap.

Mercedes walked into the break room at the end of the shift to get her stuff. "So, that kid brought back some memories, huh?"

"Oh yeah. So much I wanted to tell him. He's just not ready to hear it yet."

"Like what?"

Sam shrugged. "Nothing big. Some little stuff."

"You can tell me. Like what?" Mercedes said.

"Well, when they told me I couldn't play anymore, I thought my life was over. But it wasn't. Before I got hurt, I thought nurses just cleaned up after patients. But they were so much more. I was lucky if I saw the doctor once a day. It was the nurses that took care of me. The nurses talk me to walk away. They make the hospital run. That's why I became one. So, in a weird way, that accident was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Why haven't you ever told me this?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you never tell me anything personal about yourself. Just keeping it light."

Kurt ran into the break room and wrapped his arms around Mercedes. "Let me guess, you got a call from the intrepid?" Mercedes asked with a smile.

"Blaine has an appointment on Tuesday. How the hell did you pull that off?"

"I found out this guy I went to med school with is on staff there and he's doing me a solid."

"You guys must have been really tight."

"Yeah, we were…" Mercedes trailed off, looking back at Sam. "Yeah. But you are so very welcome," Mercedes said, giving him another hug.

"I love you, Mercedes Jones," Kurt said.

"Love you too," Mercedes said, watching Kurt run off again.

Puck shut the fridge in the break room as he was talking to Quinn. "That's right, you're still talking to the boss. So you can stay home with the kids. What do you mean? I thought that's what you wanted." Puck said, walking out of the break room.

Across town, Finn was sitting in a bar with a beer in front of him. "Are you going to drink that or stare at it all day, Finn?" the bartender asked.

"Can I just get a cup of coffee?"

"Coming right up," he said, taking the beer away. "You look like you had a rough night. Wanna talk about it?"

"Nope. Just want to read my book if you don't mind me sitting here for awhile. Not drinking."

"Sit all you want. The Great Gatsby? That's a good one. Better than the movie."

"So I've heard," Finn said with a small smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Fog of War**

It was going to be a challenging shift at the hospital. Fog was rolling in and if the doctors and nurses at San Antonio Memorial knew anything about the weather, they knew it was going to be a busy night at the hospital.

In the break room, Joey was doing some yoga stretches. "For everyone who beat the fog in to work today, a little tidbit from your resident Yogi Chavez – basic warrior pose," Joey said, doing the yoga pose.

"Really? He has to have his shirt off?" Sam asked Kurt.

"I wish I didn't like that so much," Heather said to another nurse who was sitting next to her.

"How about a tougher pose there, Yogi. This seems rather easy," Kurt said.

"Okay, we'll do warrior three. Bend at the hips, making your back flat as a table," Joey said, doing the pose as he lifted one of his legs in the air. "Let's see how long you could hold that one, Mr. MMA."

Kurt and Sam looked at each other, shrugged and got up to put their cups of coffee on his back. "Let's see how long you can hold these."

"I walked right into this one, didn't I?"

"Namaste," Sam said.

"Welcome to the night shift, downward doc."

Mercedes opened the door to the break room. "Incoming!"

Kurt and Sam picked up their coffees from Joey's back and ran out to the lobby, waiting to see what was coming in. "12-year-old female, head contusions from slamming into a rock, neck lacerations, abdominal contusions," Santana called as she wheeled her in. "BP is 90 over 60 and her name is Abby."

"Abby? Abby, sweetie, can you hear me?" Mercedes asked as her and Joey ran her into a trauma room.

"Her GCS is four-four-two. You're not gonna get much," Santana said.

"Get ready for her to transfer. Buckles off," Joey said as everyone started unbuckling her from the gurney. They transferred her to a hospital bed and Joey started doing an exam. "Guarding. Pelvis is unstable."

"Surgical belly on exam."

"Call x-ray. We need a lateral C-spine. We need to make sure her neck isn't broken."

"What else is going on, Santana?" Kurt asked.

"The only other incoming we have is her older brother, Blake. He's 17. He dove into the water after her. He's hypothermic."

"I saw the blue lips. He needs oxygen," Kurt said, motioning for Sam and the other paramedics to wheel him into the adjoining trauma room.

"80 tympanic. Pop around and here we go," Sam said.

"His organs are going to shut down if we don't warm him up soon. Sam, we're going to need the bear hugger."

"On my count. One, two and three," Sam said as they transferred him to the hospital bed.

"You got this covered?" Kurt asked.

"Got it."

"Brave kids," Kurt said to Santana as they walked out of the trauma room.

"Reckless kid. Apparently, they went dirt biking right when the flood hit," Santana said before she walked off.

Kurt turned around and saw Jesse walking the halls. "Hey, Jesse. We have two minors, both critical. We need to track down their parents and we're getting slammed. Where's Finn and Rachel?"

"They're still at the search and rescue lecture with Artie. They'll be back soon."

Out on the side of the road somewhere, Finn was looking at Rachel's car. "Son of a bitch. Tire's shredded, steering is broken. We're not going anywhere."

"You were driving too fast. I knew I should have driven," Rachel said.

"I wasn't driving too fast. There's rocks in the road. I didn't put the rocks in the road."

"Guys, we weren't the first to hit them," Artie said. He shined his flashlight towards the broken guard rail.

"Those look like fresh skid marks," Finn said, following Artie's suit as he pulled out a flashlight. The three of them walked over to what might have been an accident and looked. "Artie, go grab Rachel's med kit."

Back at the hospital, Mercedes and Joey were working on stitching up the cuts on Abby's face. "That was fast."

"Be quick, don't hurry. John Wooden said that. Google him," Joey said as a cell phone started ringing.

"It's coming from Abby," Mercedes said, walking towards the girl's pockets to pull out her phone. "Oh god, it's her mom from work."

"Talk to her," Joey said, wiping off his hands. "Tell her we need consent for surgery now."

"How do I tell her? I don't even know what to say."

"Break it gently. No parent wants to hear their kid's in the ER.

"It looks like they came off the turn and came over the embankment," Artie once the three of them got to the accident.

"How's the driver?" Rachel asked Finn.

"Decapitated. Not a pretty sight."

"Well, I guess we should call it in," Rachel said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Finn nodded as he listened to something in the wind. "You hear that?" he asked, shining his flashlight around to see if there were any survivors.

"Yeah. Finn, be careful," Rachel said as he started to open the back of a truck.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. He popped open the bottom and stepped back before it could hit his feet. He looked in and Rachel and Artie stepped beside him.

Inside the back of the truck were about ten kids, all looking scared at the sight of them.

"It's okay. We're doctors," Finn said. There was a second of silence before most of the kids took off running. "Wait, no, it's okay," Finn said, the three of them trying to stop them.

Rachel turned her attention back at the truck. "Finn, look." Inside the truck were four teens, two of which were unconscious and another one looked like he was about to be. "It's okay!" Rachel said, stepping into the back. "Four victims, two are critical," she said, looking around the truck.

"And there's no ambulance and no chance of an airlift because of the fog. It's probably best not to stay here; it's freezing cold and we're on unstable ground. We need shelter now."

"I think I saw a store of some kind about a quarter mile back, just around the curve," Artie said.

"Let's get them there."

Back at the hospital, Blake was awake and asking about his sister. "Is she going to be okay?"

"We don't know yet. She's been badly injured. Can you breathe in for me?" Kurt asked, listening to his heart and lungs.

"I was supposed to watch her. You can't let anything happen to her."

"We're doing the very best we can," Sam said, putting an oxygen mask on him. "But we need to take care of you too, okay?"

Puck opened the doors and walked in. "Is this Abby's brother? How's he doing?"

"Hypothermia. But he's warming up."

Blake started coughing. "His core temperature's about 97," Kurt said. "He looks good." Puck was more worried about Blake's coughing. He took off his stethoscope and listened to his heart and lungs again. "What are you doing? What's going on?"

"This kid is drowning. We need to intubate."

"Wait, his stats are fine," Kurt said, looking at the monitor.

"Kurt! Intubate. Now! We don't have much time and need to do it."

"Cricoid pressure," Kurt said as he bent down to intubate the kid.

"Pulse ox is down to 87," Sam said.

"His cords are slammed shut, I can't pass the tube," Kurt said.

"Puck, he's choking to death," Sam said.

"Stats are still dropping," Sam said as Kurt tried to work on intubating Blake.

"What is that?" Kurt asked, watching Puck inject something into him.

"Just a little something to paralyze the vocal cords. Hopefully, that will open them up," Puck said.

"What happened to him?"

"It's called dry drowning. His vocal cords are seizing up from being underwater. You should be good to intubate him now."

"Artie, what's in the kit?" Rachel asked as she started getting to work on one of the victims.

"She's having trouble breathing!" Finn said when he opened the door with the second critical victim. "I need a bait hook, size five."

"What's it for?" Artie asked.

"We're gonna do a little frontline medicine. Her tongue is blocking her airway, so we're going to put the hook through her tongue and lip. It should hold her tongue in place and keep her airway clear. Now, she may go into shock when you put the hook through the lip."

"I've never been in a situation like this. Not even close," Artie said, kneeling down next to Finn.

"Get the ambu bag ready," Finn said as he worked on getting the hook through her tongue and lip. "No anesthetic. Lo siento."

Back at the hospital, Sam was waiting for Mercedes. "Hey, beautiful. After the shift, I thought maybe we'd uh—"

"Not here," Mercedes said, looking around to make sure no one heard them. "I have to get Joey. Blake's sister is being prepped for surgery."

"Oh, yeah. How do you like working with downward doc?"

"He's actually really humble. Last night, he spent two hours stitching kids up in the ER just because you guys got slammed."

"Wait, _us_ guys?"

"I gotta run but let me know when the mom gets here." Mercedes gave him a pleading look and walked into the break room, trying to find Joey. "Joey? Are you in here?" She turned on the lights and saw him down a headstand against the wall. "Oh sorry to interrupt."

"No worries. What did the CT show?"

"A grade two pelvic fracture. I think," Mercedes said, going to pull up the films on the computer.

"No, that's a grade three. Her pelvis is broken on both sides. That's nasty stuff. How's she doing?"

"Not well. Losing blood. Her blood pressure is barely holding a 90 systolic," Mercedes said, watching as Joey started doing more yoga poses. "I think she has a ruptured bladder."

"Okay, meet me in pre-op in 10 minutes. You seem a little nervous. Everything okay?"

"I just remember when I was 12 and sneaking out with my older brother. This just isn't fair."

"You need to put that out of your mind. This little girl's life depends on us being focused on the present. Show me your game face." When Mercedes gave him a weird look, he started laughing. "You have a game face, right?"

Mercedes scrunched her face together and held up her fists like she was going to fight someone.

"Maybe we should work on your game face," Joey said.

At the nurses' station, Jesse was looking through the photos on Abby's phone of her and her brother when Sam came behind the desk and started typing something. "The boy's stable for now."

"These two are pretty close," Jesse said. "Mercedes talked to the mother. She's trying to get here as fast as she can."

"Yeah, well, good luck with the fog. By the way, we're going to be slammed tonight. Artie called and said that he, Finn and Rachel are out stranded with four crash victims, which means you are now my new scut puppy."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you do whatever I say. You're in the trenches now, boy," Sam said, patting Jesse on the chest. "Lots of patients tonight so what you're going to do is greet them, write down their pain level on a scale of one to ten and—"

"Sam!" he said, cutting him off. "I pretty much ran the ER. I think I can handle this."

Sam nodded. "Well, here's your first customer," Sam said, pointing to a man who walked into the ER.

Jesse walked confidently towards the man. "Good evening, sir. My name is Jesse. Can you rate your pain a scale of—" Jesse didn't get to finish his speech before being thrown up on by the guy.

"Nice to meet you," the guy said, wiping his mouth.

"You handled that great," Sam said with a thumbs up as Jesse just glared at him.

Back at the bait shop, Rachel went over to one of the less critical patient. "Hola. Me llamo Rachel."

"Ana," the girl replied. The two of them heard Finn saying something and Ana started freaking out. "Carla? How is she?"

"She's unconscious from shock and we're helping her breathe. But we're going to do everything we can." Rachel noticed Ana staring at the guy Finn was working on. "What's wrong?" Ana started shaking her head. "Ana, I need you to trust me. I'm your doctor. What are you afraid of?"

"His name is Hector. He's a coyote. He took us away from our families in El Salvador. He's an evil man," Ana said as she started to get worked up. "If Hector lives, he'll kill us all."

In the OR, Abby was prepped and ready for surgery. "We're going to perform an exploratory laparotomy on Abby Maynar, age 12, to repair a ruptured bladder. Can I get a 15-blade, please?" Joey said in the OR. "Not to me. To Mercedes."

"You want me to open?"

"You're here to learn. Pfannestiel incision, horizontal, across the pelvis."

"I don't know why I'm so nervous," Mercedes said, hovering over where she needed to cut.

"Because you're thinking about the girl, not the cut. Breathe, Mercedes. Now do what you're trained to do."

Mercedes made the cut and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Finn?" Rachel said, kneeling down next to Finn.

"Everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost. What's wrong?"

"These people aren't immigrants. They're victims of human trafficking, except this man," Rachel said, looking down at him. "According to Ana, he's the coyote. And he's going to sell these people for sex, for work. I think he might be dangerous."

"Finn!" Artie called. "It's getting harder to bag. I don't know what happened, she was breathing normally a second ago."

Finn listened to her heart. "She has a tension pneumothorax. If we don't relieve the pressure now, she'll die."

"I'll check for a needle," Artie said, grabbing the medical bag.

"Don't bother, Artie," Rachel said, unbuttoning the girl's shirt.

"What are you doing?" Artie asked, seeing Finn grab one of the fishing poles.

"Shopping. We're going to need a bigger needle."

"So you're using a fishing rod? What are you doing?"

"Artie, shut up and learn," Finn said, causing Rachel to glare at him. Finn rammed the broken fishing pole into her chest and she started breathing again.

"Artie, bag her.

Back in the trauma room, Puck was checking in on the progress being made with Blake. "Core temp?"

"92. He's warming up and looking good," Sam said. "Mercedes got a hold of their mom. She was pretty upset."

"Any word on the sister?" Kurt asked.

"Not yet. Here, I can do that," Sam said, taking over the bagging of Blake so Kurt could do the ultrasound.

"I took my little sister out skateboarding once when she was 12. She fell and cracked three teeth. I felt like the worst brother in the entire world. I can only imagine the guilt this poor kid is feeling."

Puck nodded and flashed back to a day when he was in Afghanistan.

" _What's wrong with him?" an officer asked Puck._

" _It's called dry drowning. I need you to let me work."_

"Well, he's still not out of the woods. Let's focus on this, shall we, and how you missed this, Kurt? This can't happen again. You need to know the signs," Puck said, feeling himself getting angry.

"I was gonna ask you about it when we were done. I looked it up; it's only two percent of all drownings. How did you know? What was your first case like?" Kurt asked.

"Nothing to write home about," Puck sighed. "Wasn't much different from this, unfortunately."

"You doing okay, Puck?"

"I'm fine. I got my two top attendings stranded in the fog, my pager keeps buzzing…can someone please see what they want?" One of the nurses left and Blake's monitors started beeping like crazy. "This kid still isn't getting enough oxygen." Puck started untaping the tube from his mouth and took it off. "There's fluids in his lungs. We need more suction and nitropaste."

"Systolic at 180. He's coming down," Kurt said, reading off the monitor.

"That's still not good. Why don't you guys go find out what's going on with Finn, Rachel and Artie?"

"I'll go check again," Sam said, eager to get away from Puck at the moment.

At the bait shop, Artie was looking into one of the victim's eyes to make sure everything was okay. "Pupils are equal and reactive. No focal deficits. Neuro looks okay," Artie said, patting him on the shoulder.

He started speaking in Spanish to Artie, who got a panicked look on his face. "Uh-uh no hablo…"

"Artie, come here," Finn said. "Take over bagging for me. Poor kid is scared out of his mind," Finn said, standing up to go see what Rachel was doing. "Whatcha making?"

"A peritoneal tap. He's losing blood internally, so I figured if we found the blood—"

"We can recycle it back into him. Look at you," Finn said, smiling at her. He rolled back Hector's shirt, revealing tattoos on his chest.

"Wow, stabbed and shot. Great guy," Rachel muttered under her breath. She stuck the needle in his abdomen and waited for it to fill with blood. "Damn it, no blood. A for effort," she said, slamming the needle down on the floor.

Finn frowned and opened one of Hector's eyes. "Conjunctiva are pale. If we don't get his blood volume up, he's got about 30 minutes to live."

"Okay," Rachel said as she started looking for something. She opened one of the glass display cases and pulled out a knife, which Artie saw.

"Should we be worried?" he asked.

"Everything's fine. I need you to go to my car and in the glove box, there's a bottle of contact-lens solution. I'll explain later, just go," Rachel said, taking over bagging Carla.

Back at the hospital, Jesse had just finished checking in a patient when he saw the guy who threw up on him earlier sitting on the nurses' station desk, playing with a pencil. "Excuse me. Sir. Hello!" he said, trying to get his attention. "What are you doing? You can do that. You can't be up there."

"I'm sorry, can I do this?" he asked, standing up and pulling his hospital gown up to flash himself.

"Oh god," Jesse said, covering his eyes and looking away. He looked over at Sam. "I can't unsee that. Um, any word on Finn and the victims?"

"Still stranded. Puck knows and he isn't happy about it. They're trying to get state rescue and the police out there but the fog is making it slow."

"Is there a Jesse St. James? I'm looking for Jesse St. James," a woman said coming into the hospital.

"That's the kids' mother, I should go." Jesse turned towards her. "That's me, I'll be right there." He walked over to where she was standing. "Mrs. Maynor?"

"Yes. I tried to get here as fast as I could but the traffic was backed up."

"And you want to see your kids?" Jesse asked. "Believe me, I completely understand. I'm a father myself. Blake is with Doctor Puckerman in trauma one."

"Can I see him?"

"It's better for Blake if you let the doctors work on him. I did speak to Doctor Chavez and you can see Abby in the OR."

"The OR?"

"Yes. Believe me, she's in good hands. Follow me, I'll take you to her," Jesse said as they started walking off.

Santana came into the hospital and started walking around. "Santana! Where are we on the chopper getting to Finn and Rachel?"

"I've been trying every channel, starting with the state police."

"Why the police?"

"Artie said they're out there with a coyote and his victims. Sounded pretty scared."

"Well, it sounds scary," Kurt said as they walked together.

"The worst part is, nothing is flying right now. Not until the conditions improve."

"Well, with Finn's military experience, he's the perfect guy for the job."

In the OR room, Joey stepped out so he could talk with Abby's mom. "Glad we can try to help ease your mind," Joey said.

"How is she? Please just tell me the truth."

"She's doing great. If you look through the windows, you can see her right there. She's peaceful and sedated. Now, I could let you go in and hold her hand for a moment. But I don't think you want to see her get operated on. It's too hard. So I think you should go downstairs, have a cup of coffee and try to relax. In about 45 minutes to an hour, you'll be sitting in recovery with Abby."

"I will?"

"I'm positive. I've repaired hundreds of bladders and all without a hitch."

"We promise, Abby's going to come out just fine," Mercedes said, sliding open the door to the OR. They waited until Jesse escorted Mrs. Maynor out before talking again. "You do not act like most surgeons."

"What? Most surgeons are dicks. I just think most surgeons forget what parents go through."

Out at the bait shop, things weren't looking well for Hector. "Finn, I don't think he's going to make it much longer," Rachel said.

"I know. We have no blood and nothing to recycle into Hector's body."

"It's a shame."

"Hey, we don't get to pick our patients."

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. You're right. But he's a scumbag," Rachel said, biting her lip as Finn started rubbing in between her shoulder blades to calm her down.

"No one's out on the road. The fog's still bad but I got the contact solution," Artie said, coming back into the shop.

"Great, that's our saline," Finn said, reaching out to take it. "It's not much, but it's all we've got to help increase Hector's blood volume. I'm gonna mainline it."

"Oscar? Oscar!" Ana called, trying to wake one of the victims.

"He's not breathing," Artie said when he got over there. "He doesn't have a pulse. I don't get it. He was stable when I left."

"Artie, call Sam back. I need you to move, I got this," Rachel said.

"Tell him we need that airlift now. And go ambu bag Carla," Finn said.

"He's not moving air and pupils are dilated," Rachel said as she started pumping his chest.

Back at the hospital, Joey and Mercedes were still working on Abby. "Go ahead and snip. I'm going to pull the stent and you start pulling the laps," Joey said. When they started to do that, her machine started beeping like crazy. "I need four units of A-neg now. Clamps and suction," Joey said, holding out his hand.

"I don't understand. What's going on?" Mercedes asked.

"She's bleeding out."

"It must be a burst artery. It's filling up so fast."

"BP is down to 80 systolic," one of the nurses said.

"Get the A-neg stat. Suction," Joey said. "It's definitely an artery."

"Which one?"

"I don't know but we need to find it. She doesn't have much time."

At the bait shop, it wasn't looking good for Oscar. "Pupils are fixed and dilated. It's been over 20 minutes. Rach, I'm calling it," Finn said. "Nothing we could have done."

"Oscar!" Ana said as she started crying.

Rachel stood up and walked over to where Ana was standing. "I'm sorry, honey." She gave Ana a small smile and followed Finn over to Hector.

"Let's mainline the contact solution. We need to raise his blood volume," Finn said.

"Did I do something wrong?" Artie asked. "Did I miss something on the neuro?"

"Probably a brain bleed. Even with surgery, he wouldn't have made it," Finn said.

"Finn, there's no capillary refill," Rachel said, holding up Hector's arm. "Class four shock."

"Pushing saline now," Finn said, injecting it into his arm.

"How can I help?" Artie asked.

"We got this, Artie. Just keep bagging Carla. I'm gonna get an ETA on the chopper," Rachel said, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.

Back in the OR, Mercedes was starting to freak out. "This isn't good. There's just too much blood."

"This angio is inconclusive," Joey said, looking at the computer screen. "Focus, Mercedes. No mistakes."

"All I can think about is that poor Mom losing her little girl."

"In any other room in the world, that's called compassion. Not in the OR. It's just bad juju and it's distracting. I need more suction. There it is. There's our bleeder."

"The artery," Mercedes said.

"That's the corona mortis, or the crown of death. It's an artery only 15 percent of patients have. It must have been severed by the broken pelvis. Should have known," Joey said.

Rachel hung up her phone and came back into the shop. "Okay, here's the deal. Chopper's not coming for another 20 minutes. Maybe longer."

"Well, Hector needs blood. It's gonna have to come from one of us," Finn said, looking around at the three of them. "We're gonna do a little battlefield medicine called the white tile test. It came in handy in Kandahar once." Rachel looked down and saw four drops of Hector's blood on one of the white tiles. "Putting one of our drops of blood on top of these four drops of Hector's blood and find out if any of us are a match." He turned towards Ana, held out a hook and smiled at her.

"You're helping him?" she said, completely disgusted. "You're crazy."

"I'm gonna take that as a no," Finn said, turning back to Rachel and Artie.

"We're not really going to do this?" Rachel asked as Finn pricked his finger.

"Do you see any other way to save him?" He dropped some of his blood over Hector's blood spot.

"I wanna be the match," Artie said. "I wanna do at least one thing right today."

"I'm not sure this is the right thing, Artie," Rachel said, taking a new hook to stab her finger.

"What do you mean?" Artie asked. He noticed the look Rachel was giving Finn. "Finn, what does she mean?"

"Artie, let me tell you about my first ride-along," Finn said. "The call was this raging five-alarm fire. I'm thinking 'oh my god.' You know, I was a new intern on a freaking ride-along and then all of a sudden they tell me I'm the senior medical officer on scene. So…"

"So he breaks the glass and he walks in," Rachel said, cutting Finn off. "Finn doesn't always think ahead."

"Sorry, which one of us is telling the story?" Finn asked, winking at her.

"He actually walked right into a fire. I mean, really, Artie, how stupid is that?"

Artie looked between the two of them. "It sounds like Finn to me. I mean – not the stupid part. I meant the—"

"Time's up on the test," Finn said. The three of them reached down and tapped their respective blood drops on the floor. "Look at that. Looks like mine is the only one still wet. Wet means a match. I'm a winner," Finn said, taking his jacket off. "Artie, let's do this."

"So, the fog can't be helped, but police say they can get a chopper out to Finn and them in 20 minutes," Kurt said to Puck.

"They're still stuck out there? This is getting ridiculous," Puck said.

"We do have good news on the home front with Blake here. Pulse ox is up and pressure is down so it looks like we're winning the war.

 _The guy on the table started breathing heavily when Puck cleared the water out of his lungs. "Just tell them what you know. Tell them. Just tell them," Puck whispered._

" _You got him breathing. Good job," the officer said, coming up behind Puck. "Just be outside in case we need you again."_

 _Puck sighed and started walking towards the slit in the tent and turned around to see the officers put a rag over the prisoner's face. He started screaming for someone to save him and all Puck could do was stand there and watch._

"Puck, I said he's getting better," Kurt repeated, noticing something was going on with his boss.

"And I say he's not. Anything can still happen – pneumo, arrhythmia, infection. I'd think you'd be more cautious since you missed this originally."

"How many more times am I going to have to hear that? I know I missed it. But I bet you missed your first case too. And that's probably why you won't tell me about it," Kurt spat before he started walking off.

"It seems to be working," Artie said once they started pumping the blood from Finn into Hector. "Pulse rate is holding at 120."

Ana started muttering something in Spanish under her breath. "Will you just tell her I'm doing my job?" Finn said to Rachel.

Rachel's eyes narrowed and she turned to Ana and told her. "Finn, listen to me. This isn't Kandahar. You don't have to take the same risks here. If we just wait, then we can—"

"Then Hector will bleed out and die. The oath says do no harm. I didn't write it, but I took it."

"Yeah, but the oath also says I must not play god. Look, some cases you fight for. And some cases you just have to let go."

"Rach, the helicopter will be here in 10 minutes. They'll have some fresh blood for Hector and then I'll let go."

Rachel heard her phone start ringing and she answered it. "Sam? Tell me something good."

"I wish I had better news. The fog is still heavy. They've grounded every flight for three counties."

"What about a medevac from the base?"

"I'm working on it but they said it's gonna take time. They're saying about an hour. Sorry Rachel."

Rachel hung up her phone and turned back to Finn. "It's not going to be 10 minutes. It's gonna be an hour. I'm cutting the line."

"No you're not."

"No one is coming anytime soon."

"Finn, if you lose over two liters of blood, you'll die," Artie said. "That's in less than an hour."

"Then we have to think of something else," Finn said. "I'm not cutting this line."

"Where are they?" Rachel asked a little while later, trying to see out the doors of the shop.

"Relax. The chopper will get here in time," Finn said from where he was sitting against a display case. "I'll be fine." Finn coughed a little. "Artie, help me lift my legs up by my head. It should – uh – keep the blood closer to my heart. Buy us some more time."

"Look at me," Rachel said, balling Finn's jacket up so he'd have a comfortable place to rest his head. "Hi. I love you. I love you so much. But you are killing yourself."

"I'm just trying to save his life."

"I know," Rachel said, pushing some of the hair off his face.

"If you were out here alone with this man, would you just let him die?"

"I'd do everything I could."

"And there's the Rachel I know," Finn said, reaching up to cup her cheek.

Back at the hospital, Puck was checking on Blake's tubes to make sure everything was going to be okay. "The chopper's out to Finn and Rachel," Jesse said, coming into the trauma room. "Don't kill the messenger but the mom's out in the hallway. Joey let her see Abby and now she wants to see Blake."

Puck slowly turned around to face Jesse. "He did that?"

"He wanted to calm her down. She just got pretty scared about her daughter up in the OR, so if you've got any good news…"

"I'm not here to make people feel good. I'm here to save them."

"Puck, I'm just trying to help the mom," Jesse said, not sure why he was getting so defensive. "You can't bite my head off."

"You are the PA, I'm the chief attending. I can do whatever I want."

"Hey," Jesse said, stepping towards Puck. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you or why you're acting so odd tonight, but you can imagine what she's going through. Let her see her son for one damn minute."

Puck nodded. "Sorry. I just…of course. Send her in."

Jesse walked to the trauma room door and opened it. "Rebecca, this is Doctor Puckerman. I'll leave you two alone."

Jesse stepped out while Rebecca stepped in. "Jesse says you've been working on Blake for hours."

"He's not talking yet," Puck said, adjusting the blankets on the bed to make sure Blake was comfortable.

"Talking?"

"Stable. Sorry, I meant stable."

Rebecca was silent for a few minutes. "When I left for work, Blake said they were going to stay home and watch cartoons. If I'd stayed for two more minutes, I would have seen them leave."

"You can't control everything. Sometimes bad things just happen. Excuse me, stay as long as you'd like," Puck said. He walked towards the door and pulled out his phone. He started flipping through some of the pictures he had on there, especially ones of friendly civilians in Afghanistan. He stopped at one and started having another flashback.

 _He closed the eyes of the patient he'd saved earlier. "Was he-was he Taliban? Did you get what you needed?"_

" _Maybe. We're not sure."_

At the bait shop, Finn was doing everything he could to stay awake and conscious. "Why save him? He's a monster," Ana said, still bagging Carla to keep her alive.

"He's a doctor," Rachel snapped. "It's his job." She kept running her fingers through his hair, trying to do anything to keep him calm. She ran the back of her hand up and down his cheek. "You're fading. The second you go out, I'm pulling the line," she said softly.

"No, I'm good," Finn said. "Artie, the story. Where was I?"

"You were at the fire. You broke the window and went in. What happened when you got in there?"

"No idea. I blacked out," Finn said with a smile. Rachel smiled a little too, knowing exactly what was coming next. "I was messed up pretty bad. And I came to in a tent, next to the guy who I tried to save. I was worse off than he was. The guy I tried to save ended up dragging _me_ out. Sad but true. But that's not the best part," Finn said, looking up at Rachel. She tried to keep a neutral expression on her face but couldn't help the tear that started to slide down her face.

"What was the best part?"

"In the tent, standing above us, bringing me back to life, was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen," Finn said, trilling his lips as Rachel kept rubbing his shoulder, trying to keep her composure. "She had this little pink sweater, and she gave it to me. This…this really nice, small pink sweater." Rachel moved her hand down and took one of Finn's hands in hers. "I was like…you still have that pink sweater, Rach?" Finn started mumbling incoherent things and Rachel's façade started to crack.

"Pulse is up. We're losing him," Artie said.

"Come on, Finn, stay with me," Rachel said. "Finn? Finn, can you hear me?" Rachel asked, trying to get him to keep talking. "You're pulse is weak, but you're going to be okay." Finn tried to lift his head and Rachel gently pushed him back down. "Don't move. Don't move."

"Hector's crashing," Artie said.

"I'll start CPR," Rachel said, giving Finn's hand one last squeeze before she stepped over him to get to Hector. Artie started looking in the display cases for something they could use to get him stable again. "Artie, I need help!"

Artie smashed the glass and pulled something out. "Yeah, just a sec." He ran back and handed Rachel the bottle. "It's cough medicine. Pseudoephedrine. It should work like adrenaline and get his heart started again."

"Let's give it a try," Rachel said as she continued to pump his heart.

Back at the hospital, Kurt opened the doors to the break room and saw Puck sitting at one of the laptops. "I just need some attendings signatures and I'll be on my way," Kurt said, setting a clipboard down on the table as Puck lowered the top of the laptop.

"Yeah, sure," Puck said, signing his name. "I'm sorry I was a dick."

"Sorry you were too," Kurt said. "Look, if you need to talk, get something off your chest, I'm here." Kurt nodded once and started walking off.

Puck felt tears come to his eyes. "I'm a good person," he said, his voice breaking.

Kurt stopped walking and turned back around. "Yeah. I know that."

"You…you ever do something back there that you weren't so proud of?"

Kurt sighed. "More than once. We stayed in our lane, we did what we were told."

"Maybe we shouldn't have."

"Too easy to say from here. It's not so easy over there. Different rules."

"I just don't know if I did the right thing. I…"

"Did they get what they needed? Puck? Did they get what they needed?"

"I guess I'll never know."

Outside of the recovery room, Rebecca saw Joey and Mercedes outside watching them. She came out and gave Joey a hug. "It'll be a few months before she's fully mobile but she's fine."

"We are so lucky," Rebecca said. "I can't thank you enough," she said, giving Mercedes a hug.

"It was our pleasure," Joey said as she went back into the recovery room.

"Wow that was intense," Mercedes said after her surgery with Joey. "You really don't sweat it, do you?"

"It's all in the breathing. Look, once upon a time, I was wound up tighter than you or anybody else I knew."

"I am not that uptight!" Mercedes said as Joey started laughing. "Well, okay then. What worked for you? Zen…yoga…?"

"Yeah, they helped. They weren't the catalyst," Joey said.

"Come on, you can tell me. Stop playing coy," Mercedes said. When Joey looked like he wasn't going to respond, she stepped in front of him. "Come on, you've been digging into me this entire shift. You can't tell _me_?"

"I lost my son to cancer," Joey said seriously. The smile on Mercedes' face quickly dropped. "It was before I went to Iraq. He was only nine. We did everything, you know, surgeries, chemo. I saw the limitations of Western medicine and of myself and I started exploring new ways of thought and new ways of living. I realized there's so much we can do before we get sick. Anyway, I'm rambling…"

"No, I'm so sorry," Mercedes said.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dumped that on you. Look, I don't tell very many people so, if you could just…"

"Of course."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Joey said as he walked off and started doing small stretches.

Artie injected something into Hector's line to keep him conscious until the paramedics and the helicopter could arrive. "Come on, come on," Artie said, waiting to see if it was going to work.

"I feel a pulse," Rachel said. "Artie, your Hail Mary might have just saved him. Now we need to get him on that chopper," Rachel said, not letting go of Finn's hand.

"Hey," Finn said, groggily. "Carla's awake."

Rachel looked over her shoulder to see one of the girls starting to wake up.

"It's okay," Artie said, getting up to go over to her.

The doors to the shop opened and Santana and two other paramedics walked in. "What the holy hell happened?"

"Long story," Rachel said, not letting go of Finn's hand.

"It always is. Okay, three to transport, all critical," Santana said. She started calling out directions as Artie's patient took the hook out of her mouth.

"Ana is the coyote," Carla said.

"Don't move," Artie said as Santana tried to put an oxygen mask on her.

"Hold on a second," Rachel said, squeezing Finn's hand before letting go to go to where Artie and Santana were. "What did you just say?"

"Ana is the coyote. She lied. She is the bad one. Not Hector. She took us, threatened our families…she was going to sell us. Ana is very bad. Ana is cartel."

Back at the hospital, Santana was filling in Artie and Rachel about what she heard. "Police found a guy with a gunshot to the head by the bait shop. And according to the FBI, your Ana fit the description of a woman who is a trafficker. Cops found a track mark on Oscar and a syringe outside the bait shop. It tested positive for heroin," Santana said.

"Ana must have injected her when I went outside," Artie said.

"Artie, I'm so sorry for doubting you," Rachel said.

"No problem. I doubted myself," Artie said. "Anyway, we're lucky. Cops say Ana is wanted in four states."

"Yeah, for human trafficking and murder," Santana said.

"I think I'm gonna go check on Carla and Hector again," Artie said. "They're stable and UNICEF is helping to track down their family. Is Finn doing alright?"

"Yeah, he's doing fine," Rachel said. "I'll catch you later," Rachel said as Artie walked off and Santana linked arms with Rachel.

"That was quite a chance Finn took out there. So glad he's changed," Santana said.

"Santana, he _has_ changed. Maybe not 100 percent, but he's trying."

"Trying for what? My job is to protect you, not him, okay?" Santana said before she started walking off.

Puck was sitting at one of the computers checking his email. He clicked on a picture of a young boy from Afghanistan and went to his bank's website. He started typing in an amount to send to someone, but hesitated when he wrote in $500. He highlighted the whole amount and deleted it, changing it to $1000. He hit send and felt more tears coming.

In the break room, Finn was hooked up to an IV and was playing bumper pool to pass the time. Rachel opened the door and stood in the doorway. "Hey."

"Hey," Finn said, lining up his next shot.

Rachel walked in and stopped when she got to the pool table. "Finn, you really scared me tonight."

"Well, I'm alive."

"If we're going to do this, there's a hell of a lot that we need to figure out."

"Like…" Finn asked, not sure of where the conversation was headed.

"Like how we're going to work together in dangerous situations. I can't focus on my job if I'm worried about you. Finn and Rachel are not the same as Doctor Hudson and Doctor Berry. We need to find the line."

"We'll find it. We found it before," Finn said, dragging his IV so he could walk closer to Rachel.

"Yeah, when we were residents. We were kids. We're adults now. It's different," Rachel said, leaning against the edge of the table.

"Come on, Santana," Finn said, trying to get the nagging voice out of Rachel's mind. "Can I have Rachel back? Please."

"I'm just saying that you can be—"

"And I'm just saying that I would still do anything for you. And that you are still so gullible."

"No I'm not!"

"You're just annoyed because you bought Ana's story. Hook, line and sinker."

"How about you just shut up," Rachel said, pulling Finn's neck down for a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the kiss deepened and Finn dropped the pool stick to rest his hands on her hips.

The door to the break room opened and Puck and Kurt stepped in. "That is so not how you play bumper pool," Puck said as other members of the shift walked in behind them. "Get a room."

"So I heard some idiot gave away half his blood," Kurt said.

"Hey Finn, you ever read _The Giving Tree_?" Jesse asked. "Doesn't end well."

"Rach, you hearing anything?" Finn asked, ignoring his friends and coworkers.

"Not a thing. I think we should go get a room," Rachel said, pushing herself off the table edge. Her feet hit the floor and she hit Finn on the butt.

"Get a room. Yeah," Finn said as he started to follow her out.

"Hey, Finn, you got a little lipstick right here," Puck said, pointing to a spot on his face. "You know, there's a locker room that's not always occupied." Finn and Rachel gave Puck one last look before leaving the break room. "Alright, let's play a round and pretend this table was not touched."

"So, about that room," Finn said as him and Rachel were walking the halls of the hospital. "I happen to have my own recovery room, complete with curtains for complete privacy."

Rachel squeezed his hand. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Lead the way."

The two of them walked in silence towards Finn's room and Rachel couldn't help the smile that was starting to form on her face. She hadn't done anything like this in a hospital in a very long time.

"Here we are," Finn said, opening the door to his recovery room. He let Rachel walk ahead of him and made sure that the curtains were completely shut before turning back to Rachel. "I love you, Rach."

Rachel sat down on the edge of the bed and started swinging her feet. "I love you too, Finn." She quirked her eyebrow smiled at Finn.

He smirked at her and walked over to the bed, standing in front of her. He ran his hands up and down her thighs before looking her in the eyes. "You know, I meant everything I said in the bait shop. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

"Thank you," Rachel said. "Now shut up and kiss me."

Finn certainly didn't mind obliging.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Eyes Look Your Last**

 **Author's Note: Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you know that there is a scene in the chapter that has a suicide trigger warning and I want my readers to be aware of this. This occurs near the end of the chapter, so please skip over it if you need to. Other than that, as always I don't own Glee, The Night Shift or any of their characters.**

It was two thirty in the morning, and Rachel was exhausted.

Of course, she was always tired, given the late hours she worked. But this week was more tiring for her.

Her mother was in town for a visit.

She fell onto one of the on call room beds face first and just laid there, not wanting to think about much else. She was tired of the constant questions from her mother, she was tired because it was seeming to be a slow shift, and she was tired from not getting much sleep that week.

She heard the door open and groaned. "If you're an intern, leave me alone unless a patient is coding. Otherwise, just leave," Rachel said, the sound muffled from her face being in the pillow.

"Well, I guess you don't want the company of your boyfriend then," Finn said, leaning against the door frame.

Rachel sighed and pushed herself up from the bed. "You can stay," Rachel said, rubbing her temples. She scooted over on the bed and Finn came in and sat down next to her.

"Everything okay? I thought you'd be relishing this shift."

"Any other day I would," Rachel said, feeling like she was about to fall asleep.

Finn frowned and moved closer to her. "Anything I can do to help?" Finn said as he started massaging her shoulders. "Damn, Rach. Why so tense?"

She pursed her lips and looked back at him. "My mother's here for a visit."

In the main lobby of the hospital, things were all completely calm. There was no one in the waiting room and the TV was turned to the lowest volume possible where all the doctors and nurses could still hear what was going on.

But instead of doing paperwork at the nurses' station, they all were taking advantage of no incoming activity and were having wheelchair races instead. Nurse Molly and Nurse Heather were on one team while Mercedes and Artie were on another.

"Team Heather by a hair!" Puck said when they crossed the finish line.

"What? No way, we totally had them!" Artie and Mercedes complained to Puck.

"First rule of emergency medicine – don't piss off the nurses," Puck said, tossing confetti on Molly and Heather.

"Hey, Kurt, can I try that thing? You know what I'm talking about? Let me try," Sam said, coming up behind his friend.

"It's not going to work," Kurt said in a singsong voice. "Tell me when you think you got me."

Sam put Kurt in a chokehold and smiled to himself. "I think I got you."

"Oh yeah?" Kurt said, breaking free from Sam's grip as he forced him down to the ground.

"That was easy. I guess that's why you fight MMA and I don't," Sam said from his spot on the ground.

"I have to say, as an administrator, these shenanigans would have driven me nuts. But I am having such a great time," Jesse said with a smile on his face. "Who knew this ER could have such a quiet night?" Jesse said, causing everyone around them to stop talking and glare at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Puck asked. "Don't ever say the Q word. You don't talk about fight club, you don't talk about a no-hitter, and you never _ever_ mention the Q word in an ER. You will jinx it," Puck said as he started to walk away.

"Sorry, I didn't know."

In a different part of the hospital, Finn and Rachel were coming out of the on call room with Rachel feeling slightly less stressed. "I haven't told my mom about us yet because she doesn't understand why I broke up with Brody. And she knows how hard it was for us when you got back from the war."

"Rach, she didn't like me _before_ I went to war. Did she really like Brody that much?"

"What can I say? You know, he called her on Mother's Day. But all I'm saying is that if I tell her now – before she leaves – I'm not going to get a moment's rest. And to be honest with you, I don't feel like dealing with her nagging. So I just figured I would tell her after," Rachel said, stopping when their pagers started to go off. "Someone said the Q word."

"Okay, team!" Puck said once his trauma gown was on. "So much for coasting through to the morning. We have a multi-victim traffic collision, stragglers filling the waiting room. Santana, what's the news?"

"The first two were in a rollover MVA when it slammed into another vehicle in the rain. That victim's still on the scene."

"I got this one," Finn said when a teenaged boy came into the ER.

"First victim is 18-years-old. He has a deep gash to his left thigh from the broken glass," Santana said.

"Me and Rachel are in trauma two," Finn said as he wheeled the gurney towards the trauma room.

"Victim two was a front-seat passenger. She's a minor with blunt face and chest trauma. She has mild respiratory distress but her stats are holding."

"Take the girl into trauma one. Mercedes, you're with me," Puck said. "Artie and Kurt, start working through the waiting room patients. Kurt, take Jesse with you and show him the ropes."

"What? Me? Why not Artie?" Kurt asked, dreading working with his former boss for the night.

"He's almost as green. You're not," Puck said before going into the trauma room.

"Son of a bitch," Kurt muttered under his breath as he started walking to the waiting room.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Jesse said from where he was standing behind Kurt.

In the second trauma room, the male victim was starting to wake up. "How's Taylor? Is she okay?"

"It's alright, we're working on her in the other room. But let's focus on you right now, okay?" Rachel said as they worked on stabilizing him.

"I didn't even see the other car. Is that driver okay?"

"Not here yet," Finn said from where he was working. "I'll get you an update when we get one." He pulled one of the bandages off his leg and blood started spurting out. "Looks like he's got a femoral bleed. I need more gauze."

"Rachel, the third MVA victim is two minutes out," Molly said, poking her head into the trauma room.

"I've got this. Go ahead," Finn said.

"Alright, I'll send off A-type and cross for six units," Sam said.

"And get me large BP cuff to tourniquet the leg," Finn said.

"I think there's one in the next room," Sam said, rushing towards the doors that connected the two trauma rooms.

"How's the boy?" Puck asked from where he was working on the female victim.

"Femoral artery injury. But Finn's on the case. How's it going in here?" Sam asked, looking for the cuff.

"Her jaw is dislocated. It's obstructing her breathing."

"The intubation tray is ready" Heather said.

"I don't think we'll need it. If we can reduce the jaw, breathing should be fine," Puck said, taking off her oxygen mask.

"We're in the next room, call if you need anything," Sam said once he found everything he was looking for.

In the third trauma room, Santana was helping the doctors get the third victim situated in the trauma room.

"I got it from here," Rachel said, coming into the trauma room. "Is this the woman the kid's car ran into?"

"Yeah, approximately 30-year-old female. She's tachy but otherwise stable. Paramedic on the scene found her unconscious with a bleeding scalp lacerations. Chavez has been paged."

"Okay thanks," Rachel said as she started cutting the gauze off the woman's forehead. "I need to tie this one off now. 4-0 prolene."

"Hey Santana. Rachel," Brody said, coming into the trauma room.

"See you around, Rach?" Santana said, eyeing Brody.

"Joey's off on some family thing and I'm on call. What's going on here?" Brody said, looking at the woman's chart.

"Hemodynamically stable but came in with a scalp pumper. I'm placing a purse string suture which should do the trick," Rachel said as she started to get ready to suture her scalp.

"It says here there's abdominal trauma."

"Could be internal bleeding," Rachel said, not wanting to face Brody at the moment.

"I'll check a fast scan," Brody said, pulling back the blanket. "Ultra sound please," he said to one of the nurses. He started to unbutton the woman's top and pulled it back. "Uh, Rachel…"

Rachel looked up and her eyes widened. "She's pregnant?"

"This just got a lot more complicated."

"I'd say so," Rachel muttered to herself.

In the trauma room with the young female victim, Mercedes was working on taping popsicle sticks to her hands. "Mercedes, let's go," Puck said. "The tongue depressors will keep your thumbs from being bitten off but be careful, okay?" Puck turned towards their patient. "Taylor, you're going to feel some pressure but it'll help your breathing, okay?"

"Just look at me and everything is going to be fine," Mercedes said in a soothing voice.

"Place your thumbs along her bottom teeth and push inferior and posterior. Slow and steady pressure." Puck said, watching over her shoulders to make sure she was doing it right.

"Pulse ox is dropping," Heather said as Taylor started screaming.

"Mercedes, you have to do this. Don't make me step in," Puck said.

"Her jaw isn't moving!" Mercedes said.

"Stats are down to 80."

"Mercedes, you have to push harder. Now is not the time to be polite."

Mercedes grimaced and pressed down harder. "It moved. I felt it move."

Puck walked around Mercedes and felt Taylor's jaw line. "It feels back in place. Good job Mercedes."

"Stats are up to 95."

"Let's get her up to x-ray," Puck said as he tried to put the oxygen mask back on her.

"How's my…"

"Don't talk until we know your jaw is back in place," Puck said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"How's my husband?" Taylor got out before they placed the oxygen mask on her.

"Your what?" Mercedes asked incredulously.

"My husband," Taylor said, taking off the mask. "My husband Ryan. We just got married tonight."

"What are you, like 14? 15?" Puck guessed.

"I just turned 16. Do me a favor. Please don't tell my dad about the marriage. I don't think he's going to be happy."

"That would be my guess," Puck said.

Out in the lobby, Kurt was trying to show Jesse some more of the ropes of the night shift. "Things are crazy in there. We have to keep things running out here. We have two new patients that just came in. There's one lady complaining of a kidney stone and an elderly woman with an altered mental status. Artie, you have the Queen Mother," Kurt said, handing him her clipboard. "We're taking the kidney stone."

"This isn't one of those old people with STD pranks, right?" Artie asked, remembering one of his first shifts at the hospital.

"I promise you she's not here for STDs. In fact, if she has one, I'll pay you 500 bucks."

"Artie, if I were you, I wouldn't go looking for STDs," Jesse said, trying to get a closer look at the patient. That's Marilyn Capshaw, the matriarch of this hospital's biggest donor family."

"You mean…oh shit. _The_ Capshaws. Like, the ones that fund the residency program."

"Exactly," Jesse said. "The family's a bunch of pain in the ass hypochondriacs. They have made my life a living hell."

"You knew?" Artie asked, looking in Kurt's direction.

"Of course I did. I had her sister my first year. She came in one time with nothing wrong with her and had me written up as incompetent. Enjoy," Kurt said, watching Artie walk into the waiting room.

"Nice move. I did not want—" Jesse started to say.

"Just take this lady's chart and come get me when you have a differential diagnosis," Kurt said, handing Jesse his clipboard.

Back in the trauma rooms, Puck and Krista were wheeling Taylor down to the x-ray room. "I knew we should have stopped to rest but we wanted to get back before our parents knew we were gone."

"And you really got married?" Puck said, trying to wrap his mind around it.

"We had to. Our parents wouldn't let us see each other. We thought if we got married they couldn't keep us apart."

"I don't think that's how it works," Mercedes said. "Don't you need their permission?"

"No. We found a 24-hour wedding chapel in Arkansas online and you only have to be 16, which I turned tonight."

"Note to self, don't let daughters anywhere near Arkansas," Puck said as he pressed the button for an elevator.

"Taylor? Is that you?" someone called as he started walking down the hallway.

"Remember, don't tell him I'm married," Taylor said. "I don't want to get in trouble."

"I'm her father, Denny Sawyer. Taylor, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Daddy. I think."

"She's been in an accident. I'm Doctor Puckerman and this is Doctor Jones."

"Your daughter took a pretty good shot to the head," Mercedes said. "So we're going to get a scan and then we'll know more."

"Okay, good. I was scared to death when I got the phone call."

"Sorry I scared you but it's all okay now."

"Not everything. You're going to be grounded for being out at three in the morning."

"Dad!"

"And that's the last time you stay at Candace's house. I need to have a word with her parents and make sure they understand—"

"Excuse me," Molly said, looking into the elevator. "Taylor's friend, Ryan? He keeps asking to see her."

"Ryan? Ryan's here? I told you I didn't want you seeing that punk Ryan. And now you're out in the middle of the night with him, in a car no less?"

"We need to settle this after the CAT scan," Puck said, trying to regain control of the situation.

"I'm sorry that we got married but we had no choice. We had to," Taylor said.

"Married? How can you be married? You're only 16-years-old!" her dad asked as they stepped off the elevator.

"Sir, I need you to calm down. There's plenty of time to be angry, but let's just make sure she's okay for now," Puck said.

Back in the other trauma room, Finn and Sam were working on Ryan. "Okay, the first unit is in and pressure is up to 84."

"Run two more units on the rapid infuser," Finn said from where he was stitching up the artery. "I need another 6-0 silk."

"Finn, Ryan's parents are here. They want to see him," Heather said from her spot at the door.

Finn sighed. "Just for a minute."

Heather stepped aside and the parents rushed into the trauma room. "Oh my God, Ryan." His mother stood next to the bed, looking unsure of what she should do. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He's injured his femoral artery but I got the bleeding until control," Finn said as he continued the sutures.

"Thank God we got the call. I almost had a heart attack on the way over here," Ryan's father said.

"I understand. Those late night calls can be scary. He's going to be okay, so if you could let me finish…" Finn said, trailing off.

"Harrison, I told you to keep your son away from my daughter."

"What are you doing here?" Ryan's dad asked.

"They went off and got married."

"What do you mean married? Did she get pregnant?" Ryan's mother said accusingly.

"I'm trying to work here. Can you take it outside?" Finn said, trying to be heard over the noise. "Sam, get them outside."

"No wonder she dresses like a slut," Ryan's father said once they got out of trauma room.

"You son of a bitch!" Taylor's dad said, lunging forward to take a swing at him.

"Knock it off!" Sam said, getting in the middle of them. "Look, this is a hospital. People are trying to work, so show some respect. Ryan's mom and dad, you can go to the waiting room. Taylor's dad, go to the cafeteria." Sam watched the three of them walk to their respective areas of the hospital and rolled his shoulders back.

"Well done, Sam. Didn't have to call security or anything," Puck said.

"Yeah, well, these are the only guns I need," Sam said, flexing his biceps as he gave them a kiss.

"Dude, I would look even more ripped in your scrubs top. What is this, a boy's small? Let me know when Mercedes brings Taylor back from CT."

"Hey, nobody ever makes fun of Superman," Sam called after Puck. "He's got a tight shirt."

In the other trauma room, the pregnant woman started to wake up. "What's wrong? How's my baby?"

"Your baby is fine. Look," Rachel said, pointing to the fetal heart rate monitor. "I'm Doctor Berry and this is Doctor Weston and we want to do a scan on your brain."

"No. My brain is fine and I don't want to expose my baby to any radiation."

"I agree. That's why I'm going to use the ultra sound machine to check the pressure in your brain and make sure there's no bleeding," Brody said. "And it's 100 percent safe for your baby."

"Okay that's fine." The woman looked over at Rachel. "I'm sorry to be such a pain. I just want to protect my baby."

"Go ahead and close your eyes for me," Brody said. "This might feel a little funny."

"This is a good idea, Brody," Rachel said, trying to be cordial.

"Well, I've been known to have a few."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "So, your fiancé is in the Army?"

A smile broke out on her face. "Yeah. He's a corporal stationed at the Ramstein air base in Germany. We're getting married when he gets back. Before she's born."

"That's great," Rachel said with a smile as she started wiping off the ultrasound gel.

"Looks like the diameter of your optic nerve is well within normal limits so I would say you're good to go."

"Thanks for understanding."

"Well, what can I say? I'm an understanding kind of guy," Brody said, making Rachel raise an eyebrow. Since when was Brody _ever_ understanding?

"Ow!" she said, gripping her stomach.

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. Sorry. She's just kicking. Would you mind calling my fiancé and explaining to him what's going on?"

"I'd be glad to," Rachel said.

In the lobby, Artie was being given the rundown by Marilyn's son. "Next time, don't make us wait so long. I want every possible test done and I want the results as soon as possible. Do you understand?" her son barked at Artie.

"Yes sir."

"She's been off lately but it just got so bad tonight. I just couldn't deal with it anymore. I'm expecting a precise diagnosis by morning."

"You're a beautiful dancer," Marilyn said, taking one of Artie's hands. "Do you know the rumba?"

"See what I mean?" her son asked. "Here's her things. I'll be checking in. Mother, I'll be back in a few hours.

Artie sighed as he watched the son walk off. "After you, ma'am."

Marilyn ran her hand down Artie's cheek. "Soft as a baby."

In one of the corridors, Rachel was concentrating on her phone, trying to find a way to get in touch with her patient's fiancé.

"What are you doing? Cruising Tinder?" Santana asked.

"No, I'm trying to get in touch with Chloe's fiancé, but I keep getting his voicemail. I guess I'm going to need one of the nurses to track him down," Rachel said.

"Let me do. The nurses are still working and I just got off my shift." Santana said.

"You don't want to go home?" Rachel asked, raising her eyebrow.

"To an empty apartment? Not tonight. I'd rather stay and help the pregnant girl. It's nice to know someone's getting laid, right?"

Rachel rolled her eyes at her friend's antics and headed over her phone. "Thanks, San."

In the exam room, Artie was working on giving Marilyn an exam. "I need you to follow my finger," he said, holding his index finger a few inches from her face. Every time he'd move his finger, her whole head would move. "Now repeat after me. No ifs, ands, or butts…"

"No ifs and you have a nice butt," Marilyn said, putting on his stethoscope.

"O…kay. Now I need you to name as many animals as you can in 30 seconds. Go," Artie said, looking at his watch.

"Zebra. Coyote. Coyote. I suppose you're too young to remember Wile. E. Coyote. Always trying to catch that damn roadrunner. But he never could. _Beep beep!_ That's the sound Road Runner made," She started poking Artie in the stomach. "Beep! Beep!"

"How's it going teaching Ragosa?" Rachel asked Kurt as they met up in the middle of the hallway.

"If it was any other physician's assistant, I wouldn't mind babysitting. But that guy has always been such a pain in our asses."

"He's not that bad. You just have to get to know him," Rachel said.

"Right. And that's right at the top of my to-do list," Kurt said sarcastically.

"Rach?" Santana said, trying to get her friend's attention. "So, that cell number Chloe gave us? Still going to voicemail. I've left a message to call but there's also no record of her fiancé ever being at Ramstein," Santana said. "They've never heard of him."

"Maybe the guy wanted out so he just lied," Brody said, joining in on the conversation. "It wouldn't be the first time someone got scared off by a baby or lied about ending a relationship."

"My gut tells me that's not the case," Rachel said, trying to ignore what Brody said. "Try calling Fort Hood to see if—"

"If he was deployed to the Middle East," Santana said. "I know right where you're headed." Rachel smiled at her as she walked off.

"Hey, Brody? Uh, do we need to talk? Because I feel like you're taking these not-so-subtle jabs at me."

"Nope. Not at all. I was talking about Chloe and her situation. Not ours. Look, was I pissed at first? Yes, I was. Was I hurt? Of course. But trust me, I am more than fine with how everything's working out. Okay? I'll go page OB for you."

Rachel watched him walk off with an eyebrow raised. Something was going on there. And she would figure it out.

In Ryan's trauma room, he was starting to wake up after the morphine started to wear off. "Hey. Look who's waking up. How are you feeling?" Finn asked as he finished the sutures.

"Terrible. How's my wife? How's Taylor?"

"Your wife is getting some tests. And just so you know you're parents are here. And her dad. No one is feeling particularly happy."

"He just hates me because we're rich."

"Well, I don't think your marriage is going to do your case any favors," Finn said, taking off the goggles.

The door to the trauma room opened and a police officer stepped in. "Is this Ryan Harrison?"

"Yeah. He's stable so you can talk to him. Just for a few minutes though," Finn said, getting up from where he was sitting.

"Officer, this is my son. It was my car he wrecked in the crash. Here is our insurance card. Anything else you need?" Ryan's father asked.

"I'm not here about the car. Ryan Harrison, you are under arrest for the sexual assault of a minor."

"Get those off my son!" Ryan's father said.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

"Get off me. You can't arrest me," Ryan said. "We're married, it's not illegal."

"If you can't afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?" the police officer asked.

"Get these off me. She's my wife!" Ryan said.

"Ow! My baby!" Chloe yelled from her trauma room.

Rachel heard her and ran inside. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure, I found her like this," Sam said.

"It's my stomach," Chloe said as she started crying.

"Sam, start her on morphine. Chloe, these are contractions. You're in labor," Rachel said, trying to calm her down.

"No, no, no. It's not time and it's too early for the baby."

"We can try to slow the contractions down but, honey, worst case, your baby's far enough along to be viable."

"Oh God why is this happening? I promised my dad I'd be married before I had the baby."

"I'm sure he'll understand," Rachel said, trying to calm Chloe down.

"He died last month. I can't break my promise to him. Please. It would crush my mom."

"Chloe, I am so sorry. The best thing you can do right now is try to focus on staying calm because that's what is best for you and your baby. Sam, start a mag sulfate infusion."

"I don't want to do this alone."

"You're going to be great," Rachel said, trying to soothe her.

"Deputy, you don't need to escalate this, okay?" Finn said once he ushered everyone out of Ryan's trauma room. "He just wants to know what's happening with his son."

"He's an 18-year-old having sex with a 15-year-old," Taylor's dad said from where he was sitting.

"She's 16."

"And that makes it okay with you?" Taylor's father said, standing up.

"You son of a bitch. You did this, didn't you?"

"You're damn right I did. I told you to keep your son away from my daughter. And you wouldn't, so I will."

"This will ruin Ryan's life," his mother said.

"His life? His life is set. He's got a BMW and a trust fund. My Taylor was at the top of her class until she started running around with your son."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. She's chasing him. He quit the baseball team because of your little gold digger," Ryan's father said. Taylor's dad lunged towards him and the two men started fighting.

"Look, fighting is not going to make your kids any better," Finn said once the fighting stopped.

"This is the second ruckus you guys have started. If it happens again, I'm booting you both. Got it?" Puck said.

"I'm calling my lawyer and this is going to end," Ryan's dad said. "You've gone too far, Sawyer."

"Well, your money isn't going to help you this time, Dick."

"Mr. Sawyer, I understand why you're upset," Finn said, trying to calm him down.

"Do you have a daughter?"

"No. But—"

"Then you have no idea. She's all I have left," Taylor's dad said before he left the break room.

Finn followed him and saw Rachel waiting outside of the break room. "That sounded intense."

"Yeah. Young love, Texas style."

"Well then. Do you have a minute to do me a favor?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"My pregnant patient is so stressed out about having her baby before she's married that her BP is off the charts which just complicates premature labor."

"Yeah that's not good."

"And Santana just found out that her fiancé lied about being stationed in Germany and he's really in Afghanistan. He told her that so she wouldn't worry. Sound familiar?"

Finn looked slightly guilty. "No. I mean, I was going to tell you eventually…when I got back."

"Sure. But I figured out where you were in less than a week." Rachel said with a smile on her face. "Anyway, we've managed to track down his unit but we've been unable to reach him. So I was wondering if you could ask one of your Army buddies to help out."

"Yeah, no problem," Finn said.

"Finn, can I have a word?" Puck said from where he was on the other side of the desk.

"I can definitely do that," Finn said.

"Thanks. I owe you one." Rachel said as Finn lazily dragged her arm across her back, causing her to smirk in his direction.

"What's up Puck?" Finn asked, walking away from Rachel.

She watched him walk off for a few seconds longer and turned towards the front entrance where she saw Brody talking to someone and hand her a cupcake.

"Having second thoughts?" Santana asked, following Rachel's gaze.

"No. I just didn't know that he was seeing someone so soon."

"Really?" Santana said, crinkling her nose when she saw the two of them kiss. "By the way, your mom called me. She wanted to know the real reason you guys broke up."

"What did you tell her?"

"The truth. Herpes." Santana said, going back to writing something down on her notepad. Rachel let her hands drop to the desk as she gave Santana a look. "What? I didn't say who had it."

"You're a horrible friend. You know that, right?" Rachel said.

In one of the corridors, Puck and Finn were talking to Taylor's father. "Mr. Sawyer, the sheriff called me himself, telling me to remove the cuffs immediately and to apologize that the deputy who did this is being reprimanded," Puck said.

"He was enforcing the law!"

"He was enforcing your revenge. Apparently in Texas, there's something called the Romeo and Juliet law, which allows for consensual intercourse with a minor within three years of age. It's not illegal," Puck said.

"We heard the deputy was your buddy and that's why you did it," Finn said.

"He did it because we served together. We'd do anything for each other."

Finn and Puck shared a look. "Look, I get that," Finn said.

"With all due respect boys—"

"Hey, I did three tours in the sandbox. Rangers. Doctor Puckerman here did two."

"I thought you were just doctors."

"You sound like my mother-in-law." Puck said flatly.

"Where were you?"

"Patika, Helmand, Gawardesh," Finn said.

"I spent some time in Helmand I'd like to forget," Taylor's dad said, running a hand through his hair. "Two long deployments. I come back the second time, my daughter is living with friends. My wife…gone. Didn't want to be a wife anymore."

"I'm sorry. That's rough," Finn said. "You know, sometimes, it's harder coming back than it is being there."

"Yeah, that's true. And I'm working these two crap jobs just to keep her in that school so she has a future. I'm not gonna let that punk ruin it."

"Why don't we get some coffee?" Finn said, putting his hands in his jeans pockets. "We'll wait on your daughter's scans and we can talk it out."

"Thanks, doc."

"So, what's your assessment?" Kurt asked, walking into the exam room where Jesse was.

"32-year-old female with colicky flank pain and blood in her urine which indeed points to a kidney stone," Jesse said confidently. "I ordered her a CT, some IV fluids, and I was going to give her pain meds for the discomfort."

"And how about a band-aid?" Kurt said. "Show me your finger." The patient looked between Kurt and Jesse and held out her left index finger. "The other finger." Kurt grabbed her finger and held it closer to Jesse. "She pricks her finger and adds drops of blood to her urine sample to make it look like a kidney stone so she can get narcotics."

"I cut this on a magazine."

"No, because I saw you in here last month running the same gag. And I remember you because you were wearing a Lakers shirt and I hate the Lakers. Stop wasting our time. Got it? We have real patients and you need help." Kurt waited until she was out of the room to turn his attention back to Jesse. "If you had checked her chart, you would have seen she was in here a ton of times trying to get narcotics. Things often aren't what they seem."

In the break room, Finn was telling Mr. Sawyer about something that happened in Afghanistan. "So, my brother, he's the platoon leader. He yells 'Hey, I got him and I smoked his ass' so we all run down there, right, just make sure it's all clear. And he smoked him all right. Except it wasn't Taliban. It was a cow."

"A cow?"

"Yeah. It was the first steak we had in about six months. And after that, Thad was forever known as Smoke. Lord Smoke."

"How's your brother doing? He still in?"

"No," Finn said, taking a sip of coffee. "He was KIA."

"I'm sorry."

"It's cool."

"Were you over there when that happened?"

"Yeah. I was about 15 feet from him when it happened."

"Let me ask you something. How are you so together?"

"I'm not together, man. It's a struggle."

"Yeah, but you have a good job, right? You got a good woman?"

"Yeah," Finn said, smiling when he thought about Rachel. "The best."

"You marry her?"

"Almost. Almost. I planned on asking her when I got back from the war and then everything went to hell."

"I'd say you have it pretty well together. Me, I'm back two years. I can't seem to get ahead. It's like quicksand, you know? I get myself out and suddenly I'm right back in it. Over there I was a leader of men. I was kicking down doors, taking names. I wore the uniform proud. I mean, look at the uniform I wear now. I'm a joke."

"No. It took me a few years to get where I'm at. I was a mess."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. The only thing that turned it around was me asking for help."

"Who can I ask, you know? I can't talk to Taylor. She's just a kid."

"There's a lot of programs that can help. But you need to turn it around or you're going to drown in anger and self-pity. I've been there. You have to drop the pride bullshit. There's a lot of people who are willing to help you. But _you_ have to ask for it. And if they offer it, you have to take it. I'm offering," Finn said. "Just take it."

"Okay. Thank you."

Finn picked up his coffee cup. "Do it for the cow."

Back in Taylor's trauma room, Mercedes was talking to her and trying to finish some things up.

"This isn't going to hurt, okay?" Mercedes said as she started to do an exam on Taylor.

"Have you heard anything?" Taylor asked.

"About Ryan?" Sam asked. "He's resting comfortably, he's no longer under arrest, and yes, he's been asking about you."

"How's she doing?" her father asked, coming into the trauma room.

"Her head CT looked good and more scans are coming up shortly." Mercedes said.

"Awesome. That's great."

"I don't want to talk to you." Taylor said angrily.

"Taylor, I'm just trying to protect you."

"So you got Ryan arrested?"

"I did nothing to them—"

"You never even tried to get to know him. Or how he makes me feel. I hate you. I hate you."

"Don't say that," Sam said as Taylor's heart rate monitor started beeping like crazy.

"She needs to rest," Mercedes said to her father.

"What's going on, I heard the alarm," Finn said, coming into the trauma room.

"She's having a heart attack!" Mercedes said, reading the print out from the machine.

"How is she having a heart attack? She's sixteen years old!"

"Her aorta is tearing in half," Finn said, reading the scan. "Call Brody and tell him to meet us in the OR now."

"What's happening, where are you taking her?"

"Sir, we're going to the OR. I need you to stay here," Sam said as they started running to the elevators.

Once they got to the OR floor, Brody was waiting for them. "She coded in the elevator. 16-year-old with an aortic dissection from an MVA," Finn said once the doors opened.

" _Sixteen?_ " Brody said. "Her parents here?"

"Her father and her husband. Long story."

"Tell the OR we're going on bypass immediately," Brody said.

In the lobby, Marilyn was eating chips from the vending machines and dancing to the music that was playing. "You got stuck with Marilyn Capshaw, huh?" Puck said, coming into the lobby.

"Yeah," Artie said. "She's here with altered mental status, disorganized thinking and attention. I'm thinking acute delirium or maybe encephalopathy."

"Her CT?" Puck said, eyeing her curiously.

"Normal. As was her EEG, CMP, CBC and all her other labs. Her son has called over five times and left messages about her diagnosis. I just wanted to run the case by you first," Artie said.

"Yeah, of course. Mrs. Capshaw? Hello, I'm Doctor Puckerman. We've met a few times before."

"Do you have change for a 20? I need more chips."

"Sorry, ma'am, I don't have any cash on me. Do you mind if I take a look at your pretty eyes?"

"Sure, you sweet thing."

"Pretty as ever," Puck said, shining the light in her eyes. "Thank you love." He turned back to Artie. "Did you do a tox screen?"

"Um, no. She's 82."

"She's 82 and high as a kite."

"What?"

"Baked, blazed, stone out of her gourd…whatever euphemism you want. Trust me, send the test," Puck said with a slight laugh as he left the lobby.

"How's checking his vitals going?" Kurt asked, drawing the curtains back on one of the exam rooms where Jesse was working.

"It was going fine but I can't find this guy's pulse," Jesse said as Nurse Heather gave Kurt a look.

"What do you mean?" Kurt said, walking into the exam room.

"You're checking for it in the wrong spot," Heather said.

"No, I know how to check a radial pulse. There isn't one."

"I can't feel a femoral," Kurt said. "Son of a bitch, what did you do?" Kurt asked. "God, I stepped out for one minute."

"Nothing! I was practicing vitals like you said," Jesse said.

"Get the crash cart." Kurt said.

"Wait. Wait. You're going to shock him?" Jesse said.

"Yes. Damn it. He has dog jaw."

"What?"

"Dog jaw. Check his carotid and see if you can find a pulse," Kurt said.

Jesse nodded and put two fingers on the artery. As soon as he did, the patient woke up and made dog noises at him, making Kurt and Heather burst into laughter.

"Mr. Howard has a ventricular assist device. He comes in a couple of times a year to get it checked. His blood flows continuously rather than by pump so there's no pulse," Kurt explained.

"Freaky, huh?" Mr. Howard said from his bed.

"Yeah, pranking that someone's in cardiac arrest. That's hilarious," Jesse said dryly.

"Welcome to the night shift," Kurt said. "And what did I tell you last time? Check the chart. It's all right there."

"You're a great teacher, Kurt. Thanks for all your help," Jesse said sarcastically.

Back in Chloe's trauma room, Rachel was doing an ultrasound. "The good news is we stopped your contractions. But you have an early placental abruption. So when the OB is done with his other delivery, you're going to need a C-section."

"Oh god," Chloe said, sitting up in bed. "I need to call my fiancé. Have you found him? I need to talk to him."

"Technically, yes," Rachel said. "We just need to get our hands on him physically. Stress is not good for the baby or the abruption. Remember. Deep breaths."

"Please find him," Chloe said.

"How's Jesse doing?" Puck asked Kurt as they walked the halls together.

"Still pouting, still thinking he's the VP and not the PA." Kurt said.

"Well Rome wasn't built in a day."

"I still don't understand how you can just give him this job," Kurt said. "He was such a dick to you and the rest of us."

"Yeah, he was. But remember when you first came out?"

"What? I'm gay?" Kurt said as he started laughing.

"You know, one of the board members wanted to fire you, which, as you know, they can in Texas. But guess who called him a bigot and said he'd fight him tooth and nail on that one?"

"Jesse did?" Kurt said, unable to believe Jesse would do something like that for him.

Rachel walked out of Chloe's trauma room and ran into TC. "How's the girl?"

"Brody's got his hands full. I came out to talk to her dad but I can't find him anywhere. By the way, one of my buddies tracked down the fiancé. He's in Afghanistan in Bagram."

"Good. And he's still—"

"Totally into her," Finn said, taking a sip of coffee. "Just freaked out about her and the baby."

"Well, it doesn't look like this baby is going to wait for a wedding." Rachel said.

In another part of the hospital, Marilyn was sneaking out of her exam room into a supply closet. She opened up her purse and started looking for something.

"What are you doing in here?" Artie asked, following her in.

"Getting some privacy."

"Well, your lab results came back. They show very high levels of marijuana."

"I could have told you that," Marilyn said, rocking back on her heels.

"So why didn't you? You made me look like an idiot in front of my boss."

"You did that to yourself. You saw an old lady and never thought of the possibility, though I was exhibiting all of the behavior."

"I need to tell your son. He's been all over me about what's wrong with you."

"There's nothing wrong with me. A little advice, Artie. Don't try so hard to please everybody. You'll only end up with regrets." Marilyn reached into her purse and grabbed a joint of marijuana.

"You know you can't do that, right?" Artie said.

"Why do you think I wanted privacy? Besides, are you gonna stop me?" She took a hit and extended it to Artie. "You want a hit?"

"No thank you."

"Good choice. Your father would be very disappointed."

"Wait, how do you—"

"Know your father? He called me last year about your internship."

"He got me in here?" Artie asked, feeling a little less of himself.

"Actually, he wanted us to keep you out," Marilyn said as she continued to smoke.

"You know, he still calls me once a month, trying to get me to quit ER. He says one day I can join him and my brother's practice in Chicago."

"Then why don't you?" Marilyn asked.

"Because I don't want to follow anybody."

"What's the real reason?"

Artie paused and sniffed. "What if I'm not good enough? You know, I could be Peyton Manning, right? But maybe I'm Jeffrey Jordan. Those are the sons of—"

"I know who they are. Look, I know I'm buzzed, but I'm going to give you one last piece of advice. Even though I was the black sheep of the family, I still never followed my heart. I did what they wanted me to. So you figure out what you want to do. Not from fear, but for the right reasons. And your family can go to hell if they get in your way."

"Thank you." Artie said. "I will."

"Now, here's what we're going to tell my son."

In one of the trauma rooms, Kurt was working on resuscitating a patient. "You paged me?" Jesse said, coming into the room. He looked at what Kurt was doing and shook his head. "I'm not falling for this again."

"This is real," Kurt said, looking up at Jesse. "You want to learn what to do? Grab that crash cart. This is Mr. Simpson. He came in with a heart attack and went into v-fib arrest. Hit power, set the voltage to 360 and press charge," Kurt said. "This is all you."

"I've never done this before."

"Well, now is a hell of a time to learn," Kurt said. "Set the paddles on the pads."

"Like this?" Jesse asked.

"Exactly. Everybody clear," Kurt said as him, Sam, and Heather stepped back.

"Still v-fib," Jesse said after shocking him.

"What now?" Kurt asked.

"Um, charge them again," Jesse said, going back to the crash cart. Jesse shocked him again and watched the heart monitor. "That's sinuous." He stepped closer to the patient. "I can feel a pulse."

"Yes it is," Kurt said. "Hang an amiodarone drip and get him to the cath lab," Kurt said to Heather.

"Holy cow. That man was—"

"Dead," Kurt finished for Jesse. "And now he isn't. Congratulations. You just saved his life."

Artie was walking the hallways with Marilyn and her son. "Turns out she just had low blood sugar." He handed her son a piece of paper. "Here's a list of dietary adjustments."

"That's all?"

"Get the car." Marilyn snapped. "Doctor Puckerman?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Are you aware of what a remarkable young doctor you have here?" Marilyn asked, turning to face Artie, who started blushing. "I expect him to be made an attending physician at this institution one day very soon in whatever specialty he pursues." She winked at him and started walking out of the hospital.

"How did you pull that off?" Puck asked.

"It must be my wonderful bedside manner, I guess."

In Chloe's trauma room, the doctors and nurses were starting to get her ready for her wedding. "I love you baby," she said to her fiancé over Skype.

"You look so beautiful."

"You paged?" Finn asked, walking into the trauma room.

"Yeah. We're all set here. We just need an in-person proxy groom to read the vows," Rachel said, looking up at Finn with a smile on her face. "You game?"

Finn chuckled. "Why not? I have a few minutes."

"Good man," Rachel said rubbing his arm.

Finn leaned against Chloe's bed and looked at the computer screen. "Tom? I'm Doctor Hudson. It is an honor to stand in for you, Sergeant."

"The honor's mine. I can't thank you enough for making this wedding happen, doctors."

Santana ran into the trauma room and laid a bouquet of flowers down on Chloe's bed. "Can't get married without a bouquet."

"Are you ready?" the hospital minister asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Chloe said with a smile.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God to join together in holy matrimony…" the minister started. Finn looked in Rachel's direction and once he caught her eye, winked at her.

"Oh no!" Chloe said as she started gasping.

Rachel looked at the fetal heart monitor. "Baby's having accelerations."

"I'm feeling short of breath," Chloe said.

"We need to get you to the OR," Rachel said.

"I'm sorry baby," Chloe said as Rachel put an oxygen mask on her.

"It's not over yet, sweetie," Rachel said. "Someone tell the OB we're on our way.

"Where are you taking her?" Tom asked through the computer.

"Reverend, skip to the good stuff and try to keep up," Rachel called as they started running to the OR.

"I've never done anything like this," he said.

"Move it along, Padre. You have about 15 seconds," Finn said.

"Do you take this woman to be your wedded wife?"

"I do," Finn said, answering for Tom.

"Chloe, do you take this man to be your wedded husband?"

Rachel looked down at Chloe as they were running. "I do," Rachel said, getting caught up thinking about marrying TC. "I mean, she does."

"Then I pronounce you man and wife."

"Her BP is down to 40 systolic." Santana said, taking the laptop away.

"She's hemorrhaging."

"We can't get her to the OR," Finn said. "We have to do it down here. Trauma one, let's go." He looked over at Rachel. "Ready to deliver another baby together?"

"The baby's heart rate is still down," Rachel said when they started doing the C-section.

"Opening the peritoneum," Finn said.

"Two units of blood are in," one of the nurses said.

"This is a hell of a honeymoon," Puck said, coming into the trauma room.

"Any word from OB?" Rachel asked.

"She has her hands full with a uterine rupture upstairs.

"Glad we got started then," Finn said.

"Incising the uterus," Rachel said.

"I'm setting up the Skype with the father in fifteen minutes. Anything I can tell him?" Santana asked, poking her head in the trauma room.

"Yeah, I'll have the story in about five seconds. Wanna watch?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Santana said, pushing the door open wider so she could get in.

"Alright, here she comes," Rachel said as Finn pulled out the baby. The baby immediately started crying. "Oh, I know sweetie," Rachel said. "You tell them all about it."

"Cutting the cord," Puck said as Rachel smiled over at Finn.

Chloe took the oxygen mask off. "How's my baby girl?"

"She's beautiful" Finn said. "Just like her mother and her doctor." Finn said, winking at Rachel.

"I think he's talking about himself," Puck said.

"Oh, he totally was," Rachel said with a smile.

Everyone looked over at Santana who was crying. "I'm sorry. I just love babies. And weddings."

Finn and Rachel shared another look before turning back to Chloe. "You have no idea what this means to me," Chloe said, holding her baby. "Thank you all so much."

Sam poked his head into the trauma room. "Finn? Brody needs to talk to you."

"It's okay. We'll close up," Rachel said.

Finn met up with Brody outside of the OR who filled him in on everything that happened during Taylor's surgery. The two of them walked out to talk to Taylor's father together.

As soon as he saw the two of them and saw the looks on their faces, he assumed the worst. "Is she dead?"

"No," Finn started. "But she's comatose."

"Her brain was deprived of oxygen for too long," Brody said. "We've done everything we possibly could."

Taylor's father started crying when he saw her hospital bed get pushed through the doors. "Not my baby. Not my little girl. It's her birthday."

"I'm sorry," Finn said. "There's still a possibility she could come out of this. We have to run a few tests of her brain function."

"No, just leave us. Just leave us alone."

"Okay," Finn said, taking a step back. He turned around to see Ryan and his parents coming up to where Taylor was and he put his hands out to stop them. Taylor's father didn't need to see them at that moment.

"What's wrong with her?" Ryan asked.

"What's wrong with her?" her father repeated. "What's wrong with her? You did this to her! You did this to her." He reached down to his sock and pulled out his gun.

"Denny, what are you doing?" Finn asked.

"He killed her."

"No. She's not dead," Finn said, trying to calm him down.

"She's brain dead. It's the same thing." Denny cocked his gun and held it out towards Ryan and his parents.

"It's not the same thing. She's not dead. She still has brain activity. There's still hope," Finn said.

"I have no hope. Get out of the way."

"That's not true. Remember? We're going to help you."

"Doc, you've been good to me. I don't want to shoot you, but I will."

"Look, I don't want you to shoot me either. But I'm not going to let you hurt that boy," Finn said.

"Get out of the way!"

"Denny, give me the gun. Give me the gun and we can figure this out. Just you and me."

"There's nothing to figure out," Denny said. He turned the gun towards his heart and shot himself. Mercedes and Brody rushed towards him and they started doing compressions on his heart.

In the OR, nothing they were doing was able to keep Denny alive. "This is the tenth unit of blood," Finn said.

"He's gone five rounds of epi," Mercedes said.

"And been cross clamped for 20 minutes already," Brody said. He looked over at Finn. "I'll keep going if you want."

Finn kept squeezing the blood into Denny's body and sighed. "No. We should call it. Time of death is 6:13," Finn said, reading the time from the clock on the wall. "There's just too much damage to his heart. And everything else."

In Ryan's trauma room, his mother was crying as his father tried to comfort her. "Such a damn waste. What are we supposed to do now?" his father whispered.

Mercedes turned around and stared at the two of them. "You hug your son. Every chance you get."

In the hallways, Jesse was walking around after saving the guy's life. He ran into Kurt, who stuck his hand out. Jesse smiled to himself and pushed the door to the break room open.

Artie was sitting at one of the tables on his laptop, checking his email. He read one from his father, who asked if he'd given more thought to doing his residency at Johns Hopkins and his father assured him there was a place there waiting for him. Instead of responding, Artie hit delete.

Before Rachel was ready to leave the hospital the for the day, she stopped by Chloe's room and saw her giving a bottle to her daughter as her fiancé – now husband – was on the laptop screen for a Skype session. Rachel smiled to herself.

Behind Rachel, Brody got off the elevator and took in what was in front of his eyes. He sighed and walked off, leaving Rachel to look in on Chloe and the baby.

In Taylor's trauma room, TC and Puck were in there, looking at her brain scans. "Poor guy," Puck said. "Just couldn't find his way back."

"It happens," Finn said with a sigh. "He didn't have what I had here. You know, you and Rachel." Finn looked up at Puck. "I never would have made it without you."

"Yeah, well, you had to. It's too much of a pain to train a new best friend," Puck said, making Finn laugh.

Finn felt slight pressure on his fingers and looked down to see Taylor squeezing them. He looked up and saw her eyes were open.

At the end of the shift, Finn and Rachel were walking around the hospital, hand-in-hand. "We're trying to find Taylor's mom and see if she wants to step in again."

"That's a hell of a bridge to repair." Rachel said. "There's no other family to speak of?"

"Nope. Just all of us and Ryan's family. We got her lined up in a good care facility. She may actually recover."

"That's unbelievable. I mean, just when you think you've seen everything, her waking up has to go down as a miracle."

"If only we could have had another one." Finn said. "Anyway, why don't we go back to my place? I'll make you a nice breakfast and we can think about how lucky we are."

Rachel stopped walking and turned to face him. "Actually, let's go to my place. I think it's time that I told my mother about us."

Finn sighed. "Are you sure now is the right time?"

"I've never been so sure in my life." Rachel said with a smile. Finn smiled back at her and his hands reached up to cup her face before pulling her in for a kiss. "Let's go home." Rachel said, wrapping her arm around his waist as he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Shock To The Heart**

 **Author's Note: Hello everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that just like in the last chapter, there is a trigger warning in this chapter. It's a rape trigger warning and takes place towards the ending and, just like last time, skip over it if you need to. As always, I don't own Glee, The Night Shift or any of its themes and characters.**

"There's my girl," Finn said to Rachel in the hallway towards the beginning of their shift.

"Hello," Rachel said with a smile, walking towards him. "How are you?" she asked, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek as he wrapped an arm around her waist.

"All right. Better now that you're here."

"I got you something," Rachel said, pulling a key out of her scrubs pocket.

"I finally get the key to your heart," Finn said, placing the key over her heart, making Rachel roll her eyes.

"No, to my apartment."

"Whoa. Big spender. Did it cost you a whole dollar?"

"It was a dollar and fifty cents. With tax. But you're worth it."

"See, now I don't have to use the one that's under the flower pot."

"That _is_ the one from the flower pot. But it's yours now." She smiled at him before walking off.

Finn smiled back at her and walked towards the front when he heard sirens wailing. "43-year-old male, full arrest status post electrocution," Kurt called from the man's gurney where he was doing chest compressions. "PEA from the get-go."

"Trauma two, let's go!" Finn called, running towards the trauma room.

"The guy's a janitor and works in an office building at night. He had his wife and kids with him on the shift. When he plugged in a floor polishing machine, he got zapped pretty good."

"Prep an intubation tray with a MAC 4. I need an antecubital ASAP. One, two, three," Finn said as they lifted him off the gurney to transfer him to the hospital bed.

In another exam room, Sam and Chavez were trying to restrain a rowdy patient. "I have snakes in my throat! I've been here 12 times and no one will treat me."

"Talk to me. What's the problem?" Chavez asked.

"Do you see them writhing?" the man asked, ripping off his shirt to show them his chest as Mercedes walked in.

"I don't see anything at all," Sam said, looking closely.

"Open your mouth and let me take a look," Chavez said. He looked into the man's mouth. "Oh yeah, there are snakes in there. I see a copper head and a small garter. We have to do an immediate snake removal. I need brevital and ringed forceps," Chavez said.

"Brevital, 10 milligrams per milliliter," Mercedes said, handing him the syringe.

"Okay, settle down and we'll get the snakes out," Chavez said. Once the man was unconscious he turned to Mercedes and Sam. "We have about 20 seconds to do this."

"What exactly are we doing here?" Sam asked, completely unsure of what was going on.

"This man thinks he has snakes in his throat. If he thinks he's been treated, he won't come back. I've seen this a million times."

In the trauma room, Finn was performing chest compressions on the man. "His heart rate is stabilizing," one of the nurses said.

Puck pushed open the doors and walked in. "We have a couple of base jumpers at the Towers of the Americas. One parachute opened and the other one…didn't," Puck said, putting on surgical gloves. "Yeah, didn't exactly stick his landing. Finn, Santana is already out there and I need you to—"

"I'm in." Finn said, stepping aside so Puck could take his place.

"I need you to take Chavez. He's been bugging me to get out when surgery's slow." Puck said.

"Will do," Finn said, pushing open the doors to leave.

In one of the exam rooms, Rachel was looking at a patient's heart rate as she listed off her symptoms. "Muscle aches, chills, nausea…not a good night, is it sweetie?" Rachel asked, turning to look at her patient.

"I made her come in."

"For nothing. Seriously. I have an epic hangover. And maybe a touch of the flu. It was really nice of you to drive me down here, but you totally didn't have to."

"Well, how do you think I got RA of the Year?" he asked as they did a chant together. "Regents Hall!"

"She has a fever of 103 and her heart rate is 120," Artie said to Rachel.

"That sounds like more than a hangover. We're going to have to run some tests."

"No, no, no. The only test I have is a major chem exam which I haven't even studied for." Lorelai turned to her RA. "Can we go? I promise to come back in if I need to." She started to get up from the hospital bed . "I'll be fine. Really." She took a few steps before falling to the ground.

"Lorelai!" Kyle the RA said.

"Artie, get the ambu-bag." Rachel said.

Back in the trauma room, it wasn't looking so good for the janitor. "He's V-fib!" Kurt exclaimed.

"Paddles to Doctor Hummel please," Puck said.

"Clear!" Kurt called before shocking him.

The doctors waited a moment. "He's still V-fib. Charge again," Puck said.

It took Kurt two more shocks to get the man's heart to start again.

"Strong carotid. Welcome back, sir." Puck said. "Jesse, can you come speak to the family?"

Jesse nodded and walked to the main lobby. "Maria Hinojosa?"

"Doctor?"

"No, I'm not the doctor," Jesse said, trying to correct her.

She started speaking in rapid Spanish, which Jesse tried to listen to. He thought to the rudimentary Spanish he'd been learning and tried to respond to her. He turned to her kids.

"I speak English!" the daughter said.

"Good," Jesse said, feeling relieved.

"So do I." her son said. "So you can talk to us. We'll translate."

"Okay then," Jesse said. "Do you work with your parents?"

"Did you work with your parents too?" the daughter asked.

"We clean offices with them at night," the son added.

"Yeah, sort of. I used to work with my dad. I have an idea. Why don't you come with me?" Jesse said, leading the family out of the waiting room.

He led them into the break room and the daughter's eyes lit up. "Bumper pool? Can we play?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course." Jesse said, getting a cup of coffee. "That's what it's there for."

"I wanna be a doctor when I grow up," the son said as they walked towards the pool table.

"Me too," Jesse said wistfully.

At the scene of the accident, the ambulance was just pulling up. "What's going on?" Finn asked, opening the doors and jumping out.

"Case of the malfunctioning parachute. From the looks of it, he may have a spinal cord injury. I didn't want to move him until you guys got here."

"Vitals?"

"Not sure. I haven't gotten to him yet," Santana said, leading them to the scene.

Finn and Joey looked up and saw someone being brought down from a cherry picker. "I can see why." Chavez commented.

"That's not him," Santana said, not bothering to turn around. "He's over here. This is him," Santana said, showing them a man who went through the front of a bus.

Finn climbed in and looked around. "Does he have a pulse?" Chavez asked.

"Barely. Let's get the chute off him."

"How's he look?" Santana asked.

"Worst landing ever," Finn said.

"Parachuting can bang you up pretty bad. Even when you do it right," Chavez said, climbing in to get the man on the stretcher. "I still feel some of my jumps."

"I didn't do as many jumps as you did with the PJs, but my ankles are still wonky," Finn said. "Is that why you do all that yoga crap? Therapy?"

"You could say that."

"You know, I was going to do some base jumping myself," Finn said as they got him on a stretcher. "Then I made the mistake of telling Rachel."

"That's what I like about being single. I get to do whatever I want," Chavez said as the paramedics started pulling him out from the bus. "He's ready to transport."

Back at the hospital, Rachel was coming back into Lorelai's exam room. "Hey Lorelai. How're you feeling?"

"Pretty good considering I took a header to the floor earlier," Lorelai said as Rachel started doing an exam on her.

"She has an elevated white count but her UA and electrolytes are normal," Artie said.

"Ouch!" Lorelai said when Rachel started pressing on her abdomen.

"Tender here too?" Rachel asked, moving to the other side.

"Double ouch. Please stop, it's making me nauseous."

Rachel sighed. "I'm concerned you have a gynecologic infection so Doctor Abrams is going to do a pelvic exam so we can find the source."

Lorelai chuckled uncomfortably. "Please tell me your name is Doctor Abrams and that you like to refer to yourself in the third person."

"I'm not. But you'll be fine. I'll check in on you later, okay?" Rachel turned towards Artie and gave him a look before leaving the room.

"Um…nurse?" he said.

In the trauma room, Puck was working on wheeling his patient out so he could get some tests done. "Let's get a CT, a chemistry and a total CK to make sure he doesn't go into rhapdo. Get someone to have Jesse tell the family what we're going to do."

At the nurses' station, Sam was on the phone as the man who thought he had snakes in his throat was being wheeled out. "Hey buddy. I'm cured now. No thanks to you."

Sam sighed and hung up the phone before turning to Puck. "Finn and Chavez are headed back. There's a possible spinal fracture," he read off the clipboard.

Puck gestured to the television that was on. "What do you expect?"

"So, what do you make of this Chavez cat?"

"Great surgeon. He's definitely grown on me."

"No, that's not what I'm talking about. I mean, the constant downward dogging, the kumbaya vibe. I don't know, he just rubs me the wrong way."

Puck started laughing and turned around to see Sam looking at Mercedes. "Think he might be down dogging Mercedes?"

"No way, man. He's not her type."

"What? Good looking, ex-military surgeon who makes bank? I'm pretty sure he's every girl's type."

"Trust me. They're not doing it."

"I don't know, Sam. People like to hide these things in the workplace."

"Puck!" one of the nurses said, coming up to the nurses' station. "The electrocuted man's wife is in the break room and she wants to speak to a doctor."

"I'll get Jesse in there to explain everything to them." Puck said, taking off to find him.

In the ambulance, Finn and Chavez were working on the injured parachuter. "He's got a rigid abdomen. We're going to need an ultra sound when we get to the hospital," Chavez said.

"BP is 90 over 60 and pulse is 130," Santana said.

"Second liter wide open," Finn said, hanging another bag of fluids on the IV.

"When we get to the hospital, we'll get a trauma panel and a type and cross for four," Chavez said.

"His best chance of survival is to fast-track him to the OR."

Chavez looked out the window and saw they were at the hospital. "Let's do this. Will, you're gonna hang in there."

In the break room, Jesse was talking to the kids. "Okay, you two. Line up," He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Boom and boom," he said, handing the kids five dollars each. "Now, this is not to gamble. It's for snacks. And don't spend it all in one place."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. It's what my dad used to tell me. It never really made sense."

Finn and Chavez got Will into the hospital and were working on getting him to the OR when they heard a rush of activity from behind them. They both turned around and saw a woman with a dog running towards them. "Will? Oh my god."

"This is Kim." Sam said, trying to get the two doctors up to speed. "She's Will's…"

"Girlfriend. I'm his girlfriend."

"You have a dog," Chavez said.

"Hey pooch," Finn said.

"Max is Will's dog, I took him out for a night hike and I came as fast as I could when I heard."

"I'll take the dog. Don't worry, he'll be right outside," Sam said.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kim asked.

Finn turned to Kim as Chavez kept going to the OR. "He's in bad shape. I don't mean to be brief, but he needs surgery and we need consent. Who makes his medical decisions?"

"Me. I do. Please, do whatever you have to do to save him."

Back in Lorelai's room, Artie was working on giving her the pelvic exam. "Could you…could you scoot down just a bit? Uh, there's…there's a tampon inside…there."

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, it's – uh – it's wedged up there…quite a bit, actually. Any idea how long it's been up there?"

"No. Honestly, I remember taking one out but I must have accidentally put a second one in. FML, I am never getting drunk again." She sat up in bed and extended her feet out so Artie could see the bottoms of her feet.

"Did you know you have a rash on the bottom of your feet?" Artie asked.

"Yeah, but I don't even know what that is. But you should see our dorm showers."

"Okay. I think this may be Toxic Shock Syndrome."

"Is that bad? It's really bad, right?"

"It would be if we hadn't found it early enough. The good news is, we did. So now we can treat it."

"That's a relief. I don't know how death by tampon would look on my headstone," Lorelai said, trying to make Artie laugh.

"Well, you can get dressed now. I'm going to send the tampon to the lab for a gram stain and culture and get you started on antibiotics. Let's start with 600 of clindamycin," Artie said to the nurse.

In the break room, the two kids were playing pool when the sister started breathing heavily. "What's wrong?" her brother asked.

Finn looked in as he was walking by and saw the girl grip onto the side of the table to keep from falling down.

"Start her on a five of nebulized albuterol," Finn said once they got her on a gurney to move into a trauma room.

"Her mother said she had asthma when she was little but she hasn't had an attack in years," Jesse said.

"Will you let her know that stress can cause a relapse in her symptoms?" Finn said. "You're doing great, Isabella. Deep slow breaths for me." Finn said, listening to her heart and lungs to make sure everything was working the way it was supposed to.

"Finn, out here!" one of the nurses called. He took his stethoscope out and ran into the lobby area, where the son was getting sick. "It's getting worse."

"What the hell is going on?" Finn muttered to himself. He looked around for someone to help. "Kurt?"

"I'm on it. Let's get him to trauma three. This is the girl's brother?"

"Yeah," Finn said, running a hand through his hair.

"This is getting weirder by the minute," Kurt said, picking the kid up to take him to the trauma room.

In the OR, Chavez was talking to Mercedes while doing surgery on the parachuter. "His buddy said that his chute didn't open. He's lucky he hit that tree first."

"Was there anyone in it?" Mercedes asked.

"No, they just park there overnight. All told, this could have been a lot worse."

"It's amazing there's no spinal cord damage," Mercedes said. "Wait, what's that?"

"Multiple masses. It's probably cancer. You see these clumps of tissue? That means it's metastasized."

"We can take it out, right?"

"Not without consent," Joey said. "I'm going to finish cleaning the spleen and call the oncologist. You should go talk to the girlfriend to get her consent."

Mercedes nodded and handed the surgical tools to the nurse before walking out.

At the nurses' station, Artie was coming up to Rachel with Lorelai's test results. "So the lab says the tampon was covered in semen."

"Well now we know how it got wedged up there," Rachel said before she started walking off.

"Listen, I'm not really comfortable talking to Lorelai about it."

"Artie, she's not your grandmother," Rachel said, stopping in the break room to get a cup of coffee. "It's your job. Just do it. Do you know how many infected penises I had to examine?" Rachel said as Artie started laughing. "It's not funny."

Sam came running into the break room. "I have a dog to feed. Oh boy oh boy," He went to the fridge and started looking around. "Dogs like cheese, right?"

"Dairy actually gives them gas," Artie said.

"Sorry, I probably should have brought snacks for him," Kim said from the doorway.

"Kim, can I talk to you for a second?" Mercedes said, reaching out to touch her arm gently as they walked off together.

"What about peanut butter?" Sam asked, pulling a tub of peanut butter from the fridge.

Rachel quirked an eyebrow. "You're not really a dog person, are you? Where's the dog anyway?"

"He's tied up outside, barking like crazy."

"I'd be barking like crazy too if somebody left me out there. Give him my sandwich. He should like it," Rachel said, taking her cup of coffee as she left the break room, Artie following right behind her.

"So, you aren't going to talk to Lorelai?"

"No, you're going to have to do it. I have a lumbar puncture," Rachel said. "Just remember, if you're feeling uncomfortable, imagine how uncomfortable _she_ feels."

In another part of the hospital, Puck, Finn, Kurt and Jesse were trying to figure out what was going on with the family. "So we have two sick kids. What did your exam of the boy reveal?" Puck asked Kurt.

"Benign abdomen but persistent vomiting and diarrhea."

"It sounds like the stomach flu but with no fever. And it doesn't explain the girl's respiratory symptoms," Finn said.

"Maybe it's psychogenic? Two different emotional responses to seeing their father's trauma?" Kurt suggested.

"Within minutes of each other? Unlikely," Finn said.

"I thought it might be food poisoning so I asked the mom where they shopped, who did the cooking, if there's herbs in the garden..." Jesse said.

"Way to take initiative." Puck said. Jesse smiled and rocked back on his feet while the three men kept staring at him. "And?" Puck prompted.

"They eat the same thing every day. She did say they've been really tired lately."

"Probably from working at night as janitors," Finn said.

"Some people have to do what they gotta do to survive," Jesse said.

"I had a job at 12," Kurt said.

"If it helps, I can run point on this. Be the middle man for all the information on this."

"Alright, you've got the job. Let's solve this," Puck said. "I hate seeing sick kids."

"I'm gonna go check on them," Kurt said.

"Hey, Puck," Sam said, coming up to Finn and Puck. "There's a call for you on line three about the base jumper."

Puck sighed. "Let me guess, they want to sue the city for putting a bus in the way."

Back in Lorelai's room, Artie just finished telling her about what the test results said. "What? How is that even possible?"

"Right…well…it seems as though you accidentally had…intercourse with the tampon in which is…you know…how it got lodged up there."

"You're joking right? I haven't even had sex in like eight months. Unless this was immaculate conception part two, this could not have happened. I didn't have sex so how the hell did sperm get inside me?"

In Isabella's trauma room, Finn was listening to her heart and lungs again, "She still has a bronchospasm," Finn said to Puck.

"Try adding atrovent," Puck said to the nurse.

"Do you guys mind if I talk to her?" Jesse asked, coming into the trauma room.

"Go ahead," Finn said, stepping back from the hospital bed.

"We're done in here for now. Later, gator," Puck said as they left.

Jesse took Finn's spot and handed Isabella his tablet. "There's a bunch of games on here that my daughter loves."

"Cool!" Isabella said. "How's my brother? Did he really puke all over a nurse?"

"Oh yeah. He got her good. But he's resting now. And so is your dad."

"Good. He works way too hard."

"It's time for you to rest now, too," Jesse said. "We'll have you all feeling better before you know it."

"Can you send my mom in? I want to show her these games."

"You betcha," Jesse said, tapping the bed railings before walking out of the room.

Back in the OR, Joey was still working on Will when Mercedes came back in. "So, the girlfriend said he had cancer a few years back but he's been in remission. She's pretty devastated."

"This is tough. It's pretty advanced."

"She still wants us to do everything we can," Mercedes said, putting surgical gloves back on.

"Okay. Let's start the debulking procedure. Have you ever done a liver lobectomy?" Joey asked Mercedes.

"No I haven't," Mercedes said, getting an excited look in her eyes.

"Well, you will today. We're going to do an ultrasound first. I want to map the biliary tree. We definitely don't want to leak any bile," Joey said as the doors to the OR opened and Puck came in. "Doctor Puckerman, what do we owe the pleasure?"

"You have to stop what you're doing right now. He can't have the surgery."

"What?" Mercedes asked.

In the lobby, Puck and Mercedes went to go talk to Kim. "You are not Will's health proxy. His brother is. I just spoke to him on the phone."

"No, Will's brother is lying."

"He's not lying, Kim," Joey said, coming out to join them.

"He faxed over proof," Puck said, handing a file folder to Kim. "That's the health proxy and a DNR signed by Will three months ago. He knew his cancer was back."

"Why wouldn't he have told me?"

"I know this is hard," Mercedes said.

"You have to operate on him," Kim said, looking at Puck and Joey with tears in her eyes. "I swear he would want you to."

"I would love to operate on him," Chavez said. "But I'm sorry. I can't. I have to respect his wishes."

"I'm not letting Will die. I'm going to get a lawyer and I'm going to fight this. This isn't over," Kim said as she started walking off.

Mercedes heard the elevator doors ding and turned around to see Blaine walk off. A smile formed on her face and she walked over to greet him. "Blaine! What are you doing here?" She saw him limping and stopped. "Did you hurt your leg?"

"I don't know. Maybe? It's probably nothing. Do you have a second?"

"Yeah. Just let me find Kurt."

"Actually, let's not. I'm serious."

Mercedes lead him into a trauma room and helped him get situated before she started looking at his ankle. "Are you fighting with Kurt or something?"

"No. I mean, I'm sure you know since he tells you everything."

"Trust me, I don't know about everything. I'm sure it's just an adjustment. And I don't mean your amputation, although it is. I just meant living together."

"It's all an adjustment. Is it broken?"

"No, but it's a pretty bad sprain. We're going to need to splint it," Mercedes said as Blaine started laughing. "What?" Mercedes asked, not seeing what was so funny.

"I sprained my ankle. Say it. I sprained my _only_ ankle."

"Blaine…"

"Don't worry, I'm messing with you. I lost my leg, not my sense of humor."

"God, I'm sorry. I'm just in work mode. Let's get you splinted."

"Yeah, sure," Blaine said, adjusting how he was sitting in bed and winced at the pain in his leg.

"Do you mind if I take a look at your other leg?" Mercedes asked, noticing the gasp of pain from Blaine. "Just for a sec?"

"Uh, sure," Blaine said. He reached down and started pulling at the leg of his pants, pulling them up to show Mercedes the prosthetic he had. He pulled it off and set it to the side while Mercedes took off the cloth that was there to make it comfortable for Blaine to wear and stopped when she saw the stump.

"You know, I would love to get Doctor Chavez in here for a minute. He's taking over Brody's surgical cases and it would be good to get him up to speed," Mercedes said.

In the break room, Rachel was putting the harness on Max as Jocelyn helped her. "He's going to be our little secret. It is far too cold outside for this handsome fellow," Rachel said as she started to pet him on the back.

"He's so cute," Jocelyn said, holding her hand out for him to sniff.

"I know. He reminds me of my old dog Cooper. Don't you buddy? Don't you?" Max licked her face and she smiled before turning to Jocelyn. "Thank you so much."

"No worries."

"I'll see you later buddy," Rachel said, scratching him behind the ears before she stood up. She started walking out of the break room when Artie stopped her.

"So, um, I spoke to Lorelai. She swears she hasn't had sex in eight months."

"Well, she might be self-conscious because you're a male doctor and you're close in age. So it can be a little—" Rachel said as she started to trail off.

"Awkward? Yeah. She's getting really upset and I don't really know what to do."

"Well, I'll go talk to her with you. Come on."

"Oh, now you want to talk to her," Artie said as he followed Rachel. She stopped walking and glared at him. "I meant that in a good way."

Once they got to Lorelai's room, she was done with the questions. "Look, I told him and I'm telling you I haven't had sex recently. You think I'm lying but I'm not. I've been living like a nun, I swear."

"Okay," Rachel said, nodding her head.

"Sort of," Lorelai said.

"Sort of? It's okay. Whatever you say, it's between us."

Lorelai started playing with her hands. "The other night, I went to a frat party with one of my friends because she was really into one of the pledges. And we were drinking. Someone offered us a pill and said it was molly. I only took a little but after that the night's a blur. And that's never happened to me before."

"Well, molly doesn't cause memory loss, so I'd like to run a tox screen to see if we can identify what you may have taken. Hang in there," Rachel said, squeezing one of Lorelai's hands.

Rachel and Artie left the room and Artie sighed. "She was a little more forthcoming that time. What do you think is going on?"

"I'm not sure. Let's run the tox screen and see if it'll tell us anything that she won't."

In another trauma room, Mercedes came in with Joey. "Blaine, this is Doctor Chavez."

"Nice to meet you," Joey said, shaking Blaine's hand. "Mercedes caught me up. How's the post-op pain?"

"Some minor irritation, you know."

Joey put on his gloves and looked at Blaine's stump. "That's not minor. That's a seroma and they can be pretty painful."

"I can handle it," Blaine said.

"I'm sure you can. I'm going to have to aspirate though."

"Which is just a big word for sticking me with a big needle," Blaine said, gesturing to the needle that Joey pulled out.

"Basically," Joey said as he and Mercedes started laughing.

The door to the trauma room opened and Kurt came in. "Blaine? Jocelyn told me you're here. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"You hurt your ankle. Let me take a look at it," Kurt said, trying to help Blaine.

"No, it's okay. Mercedes took care of it."

Kurt looked over at his best friend. "She did?" he said flatly. "I didn't know that. How long have you been here?"

"He's got a seroma I need to aspirate, actually." Chavez said, sensing the tension in the room.

Jocelyn opened the door. "Doctor Chavez? Puck needs to speak to you about the jumper's health proxy and DNR."

"I'll be right there," Joey said.

"Go ahead, I can aspirate," Mercedes said, taking the needle from him.

"Great, thanks. Nice to meet you, Blaine," Joey said before he left.

"I can do it. You've done enough," Kurt said.

In the lobby, Puck was talking to Finn. "I tried. We can't operate on the base jumper. I talked to the brother's lawyer, the hospital's lawyers, and Kim's lawyer. I never want to talk to another lawyer again."

"Kim told me she thinks she can win," Finn said.

"Our lawyers say we don't have a case. If she were his wife, the law would see it differently."

"But they've been together for years," Finn said. "She knows him better than anyone and she says to remove the tumors. So we should remove them."

"I agree," Joey said, coming up to join the conversation. "This sucks but he signed the DNR without telling her. That's for a reason."

"Yeah, but how many times have we seen people sign DNRs and as soon as they go south, the family's screaming to revive them. If the brother was here, he might think differently."

"I don't know about that, Finn. Sometimes you see a family member in distress and it makes it easier."

"Not in my experience," Finn said. "How you fight until you can't fight anymore."

"Look, as much as I love a good debate, what we would or wouldn't do is irrelevant. So until we hear further, let's just keep him stable and comfortable, okay?" Puck said. "No heroic efforts."

"Doctors, we need you in trauma four!" one of the nurses said.

Puck and Finn ran down the hall to see the mom collapsed on the floor having a seizure, Jesse holding her head up. "Has there been tonic-clonic activity the whole time?" Puck asked.

"Yeah," Jesse responded.

"Okay, get me 10 of diazepam."

"Hand me an ambu-bag and place a line," Finn said.

"I can't get an IV on her. She's moving too much." Jesse said.

"Give it to me and I'll go IM," Finn said.

"What the hell is going on with this family?" Puck asked.

"All I wanted to do was read a book on the sofa and the light went out," Blaine said as Kurt was working on his leg. "I was trying to change a bulb."

"Wait, you got up on a ladder? Blaine, our ceilings are 12 feet high. Why didn't you just wait until I got home?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend, not your child. That's why I went to Mercedes. I don't want you to do every damn thing for me," Blaine said, wincing at the pain from the needle.

"Just relax," Kurt said. "It's a light bulb."

"Exactly. It's a light bulb. I was the guy who could practically build a house from the ground up."

"It's just going to take a little time to adapt."

"To what?" Blaine said. "No, really. Adapt to what? Forget that I'll never be able to lead my troops back into combat again. Forget that we'll never be able to climb Manchu Picchu like we talked about. Forget that I'll never be able to build a house from the ground up. I can't even change a damn light bulb. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

"I know it's hard," Kurt said, trying to comfort his boyfriend.

"No you don't. You can imagine but you don't understand what it's like. Every day I try to do something I used to and I'm reminded I'm not that guy anymore."

"But eventually you will be."

"Kurt, stop!" Blaine said, cutting him off. "Please. Stop trying to make everything better. You can't. I appreciate everything you've done for me. I really do. And I love you—"

"And I love you," Kurt said.

"Kurt, I don't know who I am anymore. I'm not the guy you fell in love with. I'm not even a guy I like anymore. I'm sorry. I can't do this."

"Do what?"

"I'm moving out."

Back in the main lobby of the hospital, Finn and Puck were moving Maria from her room. "It's okay, Maria. You just had a seizure. We're going to run you upstairs for some tests."

Artie and Rachel were at the nurses' station looking at Lorelai's test results. "Her tox screen came back negative," Artie said, reading the clipboard.

"It's been 48 hours so the drugs are probably out of her system by now," Rachel said with a sigh.

"Looks like her RA's back to pick her up," Artie said, looking at the window in the main lobby.

Rachel was half listening as she saw Jocelyn come back to the ER with Max. "I think we should talk to her again," Rachel smiled when Max barked. "I'll be right in," She started walking towards Max as her smile grew.

"I walked him around the block and he did his business," Jocelyn said, handing her the dog's leash.

"Of course he did because he's a good boy," Rachel said, taking his leash. "Thanks so much, I appreciate it." She looked around, trying to find someone to keep an eye on Max for the remainder of the shift. "Kurt! You wanna meet Max?"

"No," Kurt said, walking out from where he was with Blaine.

Mercedes saw Kurt come out from Blaine's exam room and started walking towards him. "Do you have a second?"

"Nope," Kurt said, walking faster to get away from here.

"Come on, Kurt," She caught up to him and stopped walking when she got in front of him. "I'm sorry I didn't come to get you but Blaine asked me not to. I didn't know what to do and I don't want to be in the middle."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore."

"What does that mean?" Mercedes asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, Kurt, I have a dislocated shoulder. Can you take it?" Santana asked, wheeling a guy into the hospital.

"Can you get somebody else?"

"They said everybody's busy," Santana said, stopping the gurney next to Kurt and Mercedes.

"Okay, I got it," He turned back to Mercedes. "I'll talk to you later."

"Chavez, is the jumper's girlfriend still around? His buddy gave me some of his things." Santana said, taking his wallet out of her jacket pocket.

"Oh really? He's not doing too well and it's getting complicated. I'll buy you a cup of coffee and we'll talk about it."

Santana shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

Back in Lorelai's exam room, Artie and the RA were talking to her as she was getting ready to leave. "I never thought I'd be so happy for my crappy dorm mattress," Lorelai said. She started walking towards the chair where her purse was.

"Wait, let me get that for you," Kyle said, grabbing her bag and holding it out for her.

Lorelai reached out to take her bag and froze, seeing something on Kyle's wrist. She started walking and felt her knees wobble.

"Are you okay?" Kyle asked, reaching out to keep her from falling.

"I-I feel a little shaky. Maybe I should sit down."

"Definitely," Artie said, reaching out to take her other hand to lead her back to the bed as Rachel opened the door.

"I thought you said you were fine," Kyle said.

"Sorry. Maybe it's just…I haven't eaten lately," Lorelai said, not looking Kyle in the eyes.

Rachel could sense something was going on. "I'd like to do another examination so if you could step out, please," Rachel said to the RA. She turned back to Lorelai and walked over to the bed. "I'm going to check your pulse, okay?" Rachel said, rolling back the sleeves of her jacket.

"There's nothing wrong with my pulse." Lorelai said as tears started to form. "I just had a flashback of the other night. It's still a little fuzzy, but…I remember being at the party and being a little out of it. Kyle was there. He walked me back to my dorm. He pushed his way inside. And I was too weak to fight him off. He…he raped me."

"Oh honey," Rachel said. "I am so sorry."

In Will's room, his machine's were beeping like crazy. "Please, you have to do something," Kim said from where she was standing. "Just do something!"

"He's crashing," Puck whispered. "Tachy and oxygen stats are dropping."

"Diffuse rhonchi. He must have aspirated," Finn said, taking off his stethoscope. "Get me an intubation tray."

"Finn, he has a DNR. You know that."

"Please. You have to help him," Kim said.

"Okay," Finn said, taking the intubation tube from the nurse.

"Finn, are you hearing me? He has a DNR."

"So? His brother can sue me. I'm on Kim's side."

"You just can't disregard what I say. I'm running this shift."

"It's nothing personal. I disregard what everybody says."

"But I'm not everybody. I hate this part of the job—"

"Then don't do it," Finn said, cutting him off. "Do it your way, not the way you think it's supposed to be done. So leave and I'll say you were never here or step in and help."

Puck listened to the monitors beeping and looked over at Kim. He looked back and Finn and took the oxygen bag from the nurse.

In the break room, Jesse was looking at something on the internet to try and figure out what was going on with the family and what was causing all of them to have such bad reactions to everything.

Back in Lorelai's room, Rachel was listening to what she said. "I shouldn't have drank so much. I shouldn't have flirted with him."

"Lorelai, this is _not_ your fault. It doesn't matter how much you drank, what you wore, what you said, what you did. If you didn't consent, he had no right," Rachel said.

"That guy is right outside. We can do an ARV kit and get that son of a bitch arrested," Artie said. "Look, you don't have to decide right away if you want to press chargers but the sooner we collect—"

"Artie, stop," Rachel said, cutting him off. She sighed. "At this point, nothing we collect would be admissible. The chain of evidence was broken when you examined her," She turned back to Lorelai. "I'm so sorry."

"He's just going to get away with this?" Lorelai said, tears coming back to her eyes.

"Evidence wise, it is a setback. But we had no way of knowing. But we are going to do _everything_ that we can. I need to speak with Artie and I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"

They walked out of her room and stopped at the nurses' station desk. "You need to calm down," Rachel said. "This isn't your fault. Any one of us would have done the same thing. It's completely terrible but we have no way of knowing for sure."

"But we do know. She was assaulted."

"I know she was too. But we aren't the police."

"We can call them, right?"

"That's not up to us. Lorelai may not want to. Ultimately, it's her decision. And some people, they just need to take the baby steps. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. I hear you," Artie said dejectedly. "I just…I don't like it."

"I don't either." Rachel said.

In the break room, Finn was pouring himself a cup of coffee as Chavez walked into the room. "So you intubated Will?"

"Yeah, I did."

"You shouldn't have. He didn't want to suffer, okay? He signed the DNR. That was his choice."

"Yeah, three months ago. Who knows what he would have wanted today."

"Actually, I do. Santana gave me his things and I found this in his wallet." He held out a folded piece of paper.

Finn took it and read it. "You're my everything, Kim. I love you. In time, I hope you come to understand my decision. I didn't want to burden you, and I need my life to end the way I lived it. On my terms."

"You were wrong, Finn," Chavez said. "He didn't open his parachute on purpose. He wanted to die."

Chavez walked out of the break room, holding the door open for Rachel. She walked over to where he standing and looked up at him. "Rough shift?" she asked.

"Yeah. How's yours going?"

Rachel shook her head. "Not well." She bent down and opened one of the cupboards. She fished around in it and pulled out a bag of Doritos. "Come on. Let's take a little break."

Finn smiled, took one of her hands and followed her to the couch. "I get to share the Doritos with you?" he asked, watching her open the bag.

"Yep. But if you tell anyone about this bag, I will kill you in your sleep. Especially since I know where you sleep half the time."

"I think it's a little more like most of the time," Finn said, wrapping one of his arms around Rachel so she could lean against him. "Besides, I wouldn't dare tell someone about the secret Doritos stash."

"Good man," Rachel said, stuffing a chip in her mouth. "I love you."

"Love you too, Rach," Finn said, kissing the top of her head.

Back in the lobby, Artie threw open the door to the waiting room and stood in front of Kyle. "We know what you did, prick," Artie spat.

"What?"

"You're an RA. You're responsible for the safety of these kids and instead you go and sexually assault her?" Artie said, pushing him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Assault? Dude, get off me," Kyle said, pushing back.

"She told us, okay? You walked her to her dorm and then—"

"And then we hooked up. So what? She was all over me that night. I was just giving her what she wanted."

"Lorelai couldn't even tell you what she wanted because she was drugged. But you decided what she wanted and you forcibly took it."

"That's not how it went down."

"Was she even awake when you did it?"

"I don't have to answer to you," Kyle said, trying to step around Artie.

"You're not going anywhere."

"Get out of my way." He pushed Artie out of the way and started walking to the door. Artie charged after him and threw him against the wall and punched him in the face. He gripped onto Kyle's shirt and pushed him towards the chairs.

The doors to the waiting room opened and Sam and Kurt rushed in and pulled Artie off of Kyle. Rachel ran in behind them and looked around to see what happened. "Oh my god."

"You're a son of a bitch!" Artie yelled.

In another part of the hospital, Finn and Mercedes were walking the halls after he showed her the note. "God, after everything Kim's been through, now we have to give her the note."

"No. She's in enough pain already. Why make it worse?"

"What do you mean? You're not going to…she deserves to know," Mercedes said, trying to get the note out of Finn's hands.

"No because she'll be wracked with guilt because she didn't see the signs. So she can blame herself for something that wasn't her fault?"

Mercedes got the note out of Finn's hands. "I know that. But these are his last words to her."

"And sometimes the last words hurt the most." Finn said. He took the paper back and walked into one of the rooms.

In a different part of the hospital, Jesse sighed, trying to figure out what was wrong with the family. He walked into Isabella's room and leaned against her bed railings. "Hey sweetie. I know you've been asking about your mom. That was really scary, what you saw. But don't worry. The doctors are going to take really good care of her. She's going to be okay," He saw Isabella grip the blankets and saw a weird look on her face. "Isabella?"

"I can't hear you! Why can't I hear anything?"

"I'll be right back. Give me a second," Jesse said, running out of her room. "Finn, Puck! The girl just lost her hearing."

"We're on it," Puck said as the two of them ran into Isabella's room.

"Can you talk to the mother? She's screaming about somebody named Rosario but we can't find him," one of the nurses said.

"I don't think Rosario is a person. I think she's asking for her rosary beads. Check her purse. I'll get her keys and check the truck."

"Tough guy, come with me," Kurt said, opening the door to the waiting room as Kyle shuffled out.

"I'm bleeding. I'm going to sue this entire hospital."

"For what? I didn't see anything," Rachel said following them out.

"What a coincidence. I didn't either," Kurt said, glaring at him.

Rachel handed Artie an ice pack. "Put this on your elbow. I'm going to see Lorelai."

Sam walked over to stand next to Artie. "First of all, you were like a junkyard dog in there. I mean, you really gave it to him. But we have to work on your left, okay? What started that?"

"He raped my patient," Artie said.

"Really?" Sam said, his mood changing. "Good fight man. Way to step up. I'm proud of you." Sam said as he walked off.

Out in the lot, Jesse walked over to the family's truck and noticed a pair of muddy shoes in the bed of the truck. He threw the shoe back into the truck and ran inside.

"BP's dropping," one of the nurses said in Isabella's room.

"Her lungs are filled with secretions. We have to intubate," Puck said.

"Push the ketamine now," Finn said.

"Stats are down to 70 percent."

"I think I figured out what's wrong!" Jesse said, running into Isabella's room. "I found farming tools in the trunk and the kids' boots caked in mud. I think it's pesticides, probably from a second job in the fields."

"Pesticides, vomiting, pulmonary edema, hearing loss.." Finn said, ticking off the symptoms of the family. "It all points to organophosphate poisoning."

"Organophosphate is supposed to be banned," Puck said.

"Her stats aren't coming up." Jocelyn said.

"BP's at 65. She's crashing!"

"We need to go with this. She needs atropine," Finn said once she was intubated.

"Her IV is infiltrated," Puck said.

"Get me a spinal needle," Finn said to Jesse.

"Jesse, betadine. Go," Puck said.

"Come on, sweetie. Stay with us," Finn said. They waited a few seconds after Puck injected her with the atropine and saw her stats start to come back. "There we go."

"That was…intense," Jesse said.

"Great job," Puck said. "Glad you've been studying. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I just…I just…"

"You got rattled. It's okay. If you want to be a doctor, get used to it. Not something you can study for."

Kim was sitting with her boyfriend when Chavez came in. "Hey Kim."

She looked up from where she was holding his hand. "We had so many plans. White water rafting in the Chattooga. Tandem paraglide in Cape Town. We were finally going to run with the bulls this summer. I thought we'd get to all of it eventually."

"Comes out of nowhere, doesn't it? My son…he spent the last part of his life in the hospital. Nine years old. Nothing I could do for him. Turns out, he was just ready to let go. But I wasn't. It's the hardest thing. You realize at some point…they're not hanging on for them. They're hanging on for you."

"How do you know when to?"

"I've never seen anyone do it too soon. Only too late."

Finn opened the door to the recovery room and walked over to where Kim was. "Um, we found this. It won't make it any easier but it may help you to understand." He held out the note and Kim reached out to take it. "Maybe Will wanted his brother to be his proxy because he didn't want you to make the decision. He wanted to take care of it for you."

Kim kissed Will's hand that she was holding and held it up to her face. "That sounds like Will."

In another recovery room, the family was all together in one room. Jesse turned to talk to Puck. "He says they all moved into a storage trailer on a farm where they keep the pesticides. But they didn't know it was dangerous."

"So the farmer has been using illegal pesticides and this whole family and any person that eats those vegetables are being exposed. That's…he has to move his family out of there," Puck said.

Jesse nodded and walked off. He felt someone clap him on the back and was surprised when he turned around to see Finn standing behind him. "Thanks for the help tonight," Finn said.

"No problem. Like I said before, that could have been my family."

"Yeah, mine too. My dad was an immigrant who worked two jobs and still couldn't afford the basics." Finn said.

"Well, well, well. What do you know? We actually do have something in common. My dad worked construction. We moved 15 times in 12 years. Had to go where the work was. Sure made it difficult to fit in," Jesse said.

"So that's why you're such a dick," Finn said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Must be. So what's your excuse?" Jesse laughed and walked in the opposite direction of Finn.

Rachel and Mercedes stood outside the recovery room of Kyle. Max was curled up on the bed next to Will and Kim was sitting by his side.

"Who said that animals don't have emotion?" Rachel asked as Finn walked up beside them. "I mean…"

"I saw dozens of K9 teams in Afghanistan sniffing out explosives alongside their handlers. They feel emotion as much as anyone," Finn said.

"And Kim lives in a small apartment with an allergic son, so she can't keep Max," Mercedes said.

"You mean, after all that, Max is gonna go to the shelter?" Finn said.

"She said she found someone to take care of him," Mercedes said.

"I hope it's a good home," Rachel said.

In the lobby, Lorelai and Artie were talking with each other. "Thank you. I heard what you did earlier. It's nice to know there's still a few good guys left in the world."

"There better be," Artie said. "I have a sister."

Rachel came up behind Artie. "Honey, have you thought about filing a complaint?"

"This happens to so many women at school, and nobody takes them seriously. You just…never think it's going to happen to you."

"It's your call, but I will go with you to the dean, to the police, whatever you want," Rachel said.

"And so will I."

"Thank you." Lorelai said.

"And I know this doesn't make things right, but I called a friend of mine at the local rape crisis center. They have all the resources – both medical and legal – if you choose to move forward. If you're not ready, it's okay. But if you are, I'm free this afternoon. I can take you, if you want me to," Rachel said.

"Thank you. Both of you." Lorelai said as she started walking off.

In the break room, the doctors and nurses were getting ready to head home for the end of their shift. "Double stack of pancakes, a couple of grits, side of bacon and a gallon of coffee. Who's in?" Sam asked, coming in.

"I'm out," Joey said, putting his backpack on his back. "I am going to yoga. You guys want to join?" he asked Sam and Mercedes.

"I like my workouts to be a little more aggressive," Sam said.

"Your loss." Joey said. "Yoga?" he asked Santana when she came into the break room.

"Oh hell no."

"I'm in." Mercedes said, turning to face Joey. "I'll call you," she said to Sam as she walked out of the break room.

Outside of the hospital, Rachel was walking to her car and started digging through her purse to find her keys. "Hey, Rach!" Finn said. She turned around and smiled. "Call him. He's all yours."

Rachel's smile grew wider and she bent down to Max's level. "I thought you said Kim said she found a home for him. Hi buddy!" Rachel said, rubbing at his ears.

"Well, she did. With me. Kim gets visitation rights."

"Of course she does. You really milked that. You said that after all this, he's going to a shelter."

"Well, am I good or am I good?" Finn said, scratching Max's head. "You know, I can help you walk him and feed him now that I have a key."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "And they say most couples should start with a plant."

"We're way past plants." Finn said, leaning in to kiss her.

Across town, Kurt was sitting by himself at the bar, drinking a shot a whiskey. "Another round." he said, pushing the four shot glasses towards the bartender.

"Go home, Kurt." the bartender said after pouring him another shot. He knocked it back and slammed the glass on the bar top.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Ghosts**

 _Rachel had to be in a dream. For one, she was fairly certain she'd fallen asleep in her place, but she woke up at her old apartment in Baltimore._

 _She turned to her left and saw the face of a patient she hadn't seen in years, and she felt her spine stiffen._

" _What are you doing here?" Rachel asked, her voice barely above a whisper._

 _This could not be happening right now._

Rachel awoke with a start, sitting up in bed and breathing heavily. She pushed her hair away from her face and was surprised that she was dripping in sweat. "It was just a dream," she muttered to herself. She looked over at Finn sleeping next to her and pressed her lips together.

She heard her phone start to vibrate from the bedside table and she reached over to grab it. Without looking to see who was calling, she pressed accept and put the phone up to her ear. "Rachel Berry," she said, sleep still evident in her voice. The voice that sounded from the other line made her blood run cold. Her dream she just had was starting to come true. "You need to stop calling me."

She hung up the phone and sat up further in bed. She took a few calming breaths and looked back over at Finn. He'd started to stir in his sleep and she hoped she didn't wake him up.

"Everything okay?" he muttered, rolling over to face her.

"Yeah. Everything's fine. Go back to sleep," Rachel said, kicking the comforter off the bed. "I – um – I think I'm gonna go watch some TV or something."

Finn squinted at Rachel and saw the panicked look on her face. "Are you feeling okay?"

She nodded quickly, not wanting him to know what was going on. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a weird dream. You should really go back to sleep. If I get tired again, I'll come back to bed." She tried to offer him a reassuring smile before walking to the living room and collapsing on the couch, burying her head in her hands.

She couldn't believe this was happening again.

Later that day, things were off to a frenzied start at the hospital. "Food poisoning at a zombie run?" Finn asked, watching one of the zombie runners being helped to an exam room for fluids.

"It's a 5K at night. Runners get chased by zombies in costume," Puck said as the two of them walked the halls of the hospital together.

"You know, I had a dream like that once," Finn said as he and Puck both let out small chuckles.

"And now it's our nightmare," Puck said, accidentally running into one of the patients. "Let me give you a hand there," Puck said, picking up the runner's fake hand.

Finn shook his head and kept walking. He heard his phone start to ring in the pocket of his jeans and pulled it out. He saw the name Annie flash on the screen and he quickly hit ignore.

"So, when does Finn move in?" Santana asked when she got back to the hospital after one of her runs.

"He's not, okay?" Rachel said, unable to stop the smile from growing on her face. "We're taking things slow."

"Right," Santana said, drawing out the word. "And the last time you said that, you jumped him in an elevator."

Rachel stopped filling out her paperwork and looked at her best friend. "Well…we were living in the moment. For a change." She rolled her eyes at the look on Santana's face and heard her phone start vibrating. She pulled it out and answered it. "Doctor Berry," Rachel said, leaning against the nurses' station. "Stop calling me," she said, her voice dropping so no one would hear her. She hung up the phone, started shaking and turned back towards Santana.

"Is that the prison creep again?"

"Yeah. Guy drinks a bottle of shampoo on the way to court and he blames me for pumping his stomach," Rachel said, going back to the paperwork to try and distract herself.

"Just let me call my friend in the department of corrections," Santana said. "He'll reach out and make him stop."

"No! That's exactly what he wants. Attention. He's not going to get it. He's got another 10 years in there. I'll just change my number. Again," Rachel said.

"Finn still doesn't know?"

"No. I'm not going to tell him and neither are you," Rachel said, pointing her pen at Santana. "There's no point in getting him worked up about this. You know how gets – just a tad overprotective. So ixnay."

"Oren? Oren Edwards?" Artie said, walking into the waiting room to get his next patient.

"That's me," a patient said from where he was sitting in the waiting room.

Artie smiled at him and walked over. "I'm Doctor Abrams. How can I help?"

"Hey, doc. I'm a welder at Ballard Refinery and I hurt my thigh at the end of a shift. I went home but it got worse," Oren said as Artie grabbed a chair and moved it closer to him so he could take a look.

"It might be a muscle pull." Artie said, reaching out to touch Oren's thigh so he could confirm what he thought was the cause of the pain. "Does that hurt?"

"It's pretty tender. I – uh – had a pipe burst on me and my leg just caught a chunk of metal. As you can see," Oren said, reaching into his pants pocket to pull something out, "I tried to stop the bleeding but…" He dropped the cloth on the floor. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. We'll get someone to take care of it."

"You know, I'm not feeling so hot, as you can probably tell."

"Well, we'll get you fixed up and get you an x-ray," Artie said, patting Oren on the shoulder.

In an ambulance, Finn, Kurt and Santana were headed to the zombie run to help with an accident that happened. "Finn, some guy hit a bunch of people at the zombie run starting line," Puck said over the radio. "It's gonna be a bit messy."

Finn opened the ambulance door and started pushing through the crowd. "Let us through." He started walking to the accident and saw a guy splayed out on the ground. "His neck's snapped. Cord is gone. Kurt, take the guy over there. Santana and I got the driver."

"Somebody help me!" Kurt heard someone say from the front side of the car. He saw a girl sprawled on the sidewalk.

"I'm Doctor Hummel, what's your name?"

"Laura Davis."

Finn opened the door to the vehicle and climbed inside. "Pulse is thready."

Santana started unwrapping something. "This looks like heroin. Maybe he OD'ed?"

"I can't feel my arm," Laura said from outside the car.

"Laura, you're going to be fine but I need you to hold still, okay?" Kurt said. "You may have a spinal injury after getting hit by the truck.

"I didn't get hit. I didn't."

"He's lost a lot of blood, but I can't find the bleeder." Santana said as they were working on the driver of the truck.

Finn finished cutting open the driver's shirt and held up a badge. "Santana, he's not an addict. He's a cop."

Back at the hospital, Puck walked behind the nurses' station desk and saw Molly look at a set of x-rays. "Whose film is this?" he asked, noticing something abnormal in the picture.

"Artie's patient. Radiology messed up the x-ray, so he—"

"Artie took him to CT?" Puck asked, hoping that was the right answer. Once Molly confirmed it was, he took off to try and find Artie.

Mercedes and Joey stepped off the elevator. "You know, that was fun. I can't believe I've been back in Texas for a year and I haven't ridden a horse until today," Joey said.

"Yeah, I couldn't tell. Because you're a natural," Mercedes said with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, and you're a bad liar," Joey scoffed. He heard his phone start to beep and he reached into his pocket to answer it. "Doctor Toussaint? I got it? Thanks! Au revoir," Joey said, hanging up the phone. "I got a field surgery gig with Doctors Without Borders."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Mercedes asked, feeling her heart sink. She'd gotten used to working with Joey almost every day. It was going to be weird not working on surgeries with him. "You just got here."

"I go to Haiti next week to start field training. Wild, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's definitely wild."

"I just realized how much I missed being out in the field since I left the Air Force. It's just where I belong."

"I get it," Mercedes said, hoping he couldn't tell she was sad to be seeing him go.

Joey pulled out his pager and looked at it. "We have a spinal trauma coming in."

In the radiology suite, Puck was showing Artie the x-ray films. "Wait, so the x-ray _is_ accurate?"

"I've seen films like this in Iraq – civilians hit by depleted uranium. He's wearing a radiation badge," Puck said, gesturing to Oren's bagged items. "Refineries use x-rays to fight pipe leaks. Maybe…has he puked?"

"Not…not that I know of," Artie said as he turned to look in the radiology suite. Oren grabbed a silver bowl and started throwing up.

"What does that mean?" Oren asked once he was set up in an exam room. He pointed to the device in Puck's hand that Puck was pointing towards his body.

"You've been exposed to a radioactive isotope, Mr. Edwards."

"Radioactive? You mean like Spider-man?"

"Not exactly," Puck said, pulling Artie off to the side. "Did you touch him without gloves?" Puck whispered.

"I palpated his thigh."

"And did you eat or drink anything after that?"

"A donut," Artie said, realizing what might have happened.

"If he contaminated you with nuclear material, he might have exposed other people too," Puck said. "How long was he in the waiting room?"

"Maybe two hours? He dropped a bloody bandage. I told housekeeping about it."

"Fantastic," Puck muttered. "Stay here." He walked out of the room and went to the nurses' station. He stopped when he saw a bloody footprint on the floor and stopped to measure the amount of radioactivity in the blood. The clicking on the device went crazy. "Son of a bitch." He ran to the nurses' station and picked up the phone connected to the PA system. "This is Doctor Puckerman, ER Chief. We have a lockdown in the ER. Repeat, the ER is on lockdown."

"No, we're shut to traumas," Rachel said on the phone after Puck made his announcement. "We have an isotope contamination."

"No. No ER patients in the OR," Joey said on another one of the phones. "We have to decontaminate."

"We're all hands on deck," Puck said to Jesse. "We need to make sure we contain this contamination. Gear up, mop the bloody footprints from the waiting room so no one else gets exposed."

"Got it. I'll get lead aprons for people too," Jesse said.

"We need haz-mat bags. Anything exposed to radioactive blood is live!" Puck called after him.

"Incoming!" Finn called as him and one of the paramedics came into the ER.

"No, we're closed to traumas," Puck said, trying to stop them from coming in.

"Radiation exposure. We heard. But we have two critical patients. This one's a cop and he won't make it in time if we have to transport him to County."

Puck sighed. "Rachel, go to trauma one with Finn."

Kurt came in with his patient. "Laura Davis. Possible trauma to the upper extremities, possible CVA. She needs a head CT stat."

"Joey, Mercedes, take this patient to trauma two and avoid quarantine areas," Puck said, directing his teams where to go.

"But that's my patient," Kurt said, watching them wheel her off.

"I know, but I need a resident out in the parking lot. We're code green. No one comes in or out," Puck said as he started walking off.

"CT is 86'ed because of the contamination," Joey said to Mercedes. "Laura, I'm Doctor Chavez. How are you feeling?"

"I'm scared. I'm really scared."

"That's understandable. We're going to figure this out. So, you're a runner?"

"I r-ran tr-track since middle school," she said, slurring her words. "My dad coached. He died at 40 and that's young."

"You're right this is young," Joey said. "Do you know what the cause of death was?"

"A berry an—"

"A berry aneurysm? Is that it?" he asked as Laura lost consciousness.

"No response and her BP is spiking," Mercedes said.

"I want a nitro-drip when we land."

"I think we should do IV TPA," Mercedes said when they got to the trauma room. "If it's a clot, TPA will dissolve it and stop her paralysis."

"No. If it's a brain bleed, that'll kill her," Joey said. "Her father died of a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage."

"How can we tell without a head CT?" Mercedes asked as they lifted her off the gurney onto a hospital bed.

"Look at the body. The body will tell you what you need to know if you look in the right place."

"We have to look for spinal fluid. Because it passes through the brain," Mercedes said. "Even if there's a few drops of blood in the cerebrospinal fluid, it's a bleed."

"That's my girl," Joey said, giving her a high five.

"Doctor Chavez," Rachel said, poking her head into the trauma room. "We have a stab wound and need a surgical consult."

"Alright, I'll be there in a second. Mercedes, prep her for the spinal tap."

In the trauma room with the cop, Finn was calling out orders. "Let's get a portable chest and two units of O-neg."

"There's bullet wounds," Joey said when they started to get his shirt off. "Is he a vet?"

"Undercover cop. He got stabbed in a drug deal and crashed driving in," Finn explained. "He has a deep wound by his shoulder blade. I dressed it in the field."

"He has a punctured lung," Joey said. "We need to get the chest tube started now."

"Fluid's are kicking in. He's starting to wake up," Rachel said.

"Detective, I'm Doctor Hudson. You're in San Antonio Memorial Hospital and you've been stabbed."

"I don't want to go Mikey. Please, Mikey."

"Who's Mikey?" Finn mouthed to Rachel.

"BP's crashing."

"No breath sounds on the right. Where's the x-ray? He needs a chest tube now!"

"He might be seeing a ghost," Joey said, walking around the bed.

"He has lost a lot of blood. It can make the brain hallucinate," Rachel said as she started pumping oxygen into him.

"I'm going to make the intercostal incision," Joey said.

"You believe in ghosts, Doctor Chavez?" Rachel asked.

"I believe we all have a soul that leaves our bodies when we die."

"This cop isn't dying tonight," Finn said.

"Where is everyone?" Oren asked as he looked out of his exam room, seeing there wasn't anyone in the waiting room.

"At a safe distance. The isotope is still in our systems which means we can affect other people with radiation through our saliva, sweat or urine," Artie said, trying to tell Oren the truth while keeping him calm at the same time.

"Sorry about this, Doc."

"You can call me Artie. You know, invisible things are really dangerous in a hospital, like bacteria and viruses. Why didn't you report your injury at work?"

"My old man worked there for 20 years. He got me a part time to pay for this trip we're taking next month. I guess I didn't want to cause any trouble for him."

"Where are you going?" Artie asked, drawing blood for a blood sample.

"We're gonna do some salmon fishing up in Alaska. Get this great view of Mount McKinley. There's moose and eagles…it's badass. My dad got emphysema from welding gases all those years have just burned up his lungs. We've been talking about this trip since I was a kid. And now we're finally doing it."

"Good for you."

"Hey, Artie? I'm gonna be okay, right?"

"We're both going to be just fine."

In the trauma room, Joey was observing the stats of the cop. "His BP is coming up. Nice work."

"This guy's got so many lives. Somebody must be looking out for him," Finn said.

"Speaking of looking out, I'm gonna go check on Mercedes," Joey said, taking off his trauma gown as the doors open.

"Oh my god! Pete!"

"Officer, you can't be in here," Finn said.

"He's my husband. Pete Moreno. Is…is he?"

"He's fading in and out of consciousness," Rachel said. "He was stabbed and he lost a lot of blood. We've placed a chest tube in so he could breathe better."

"He lied to me. He said he was going to the gym then went out on a bust without backup. Next thing I know, I get a call he's here."

"He's been talking to someone named Mikey," Finn said.

"Mike Bennett. His partner. But, we lost him a few years ago in a shootout. They were like brothers." Her voice cracked. "Can I stay with him?" she whispered.

"Of course," Rachel said, leading her over to her husband.

"I'm gonna go update Puck," Finn said, giving the two of them a small smile as he left the room.

Rachel felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out. She had a new text from an unknown number.

YOU CAN'T HIDE. I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE.

She quickly started scrolling through her contacts and called someone. "Hey, Santana. That guy you know…call him," she said.

Outside of the hospital a little bit later, Santana was getting out of her ambulance. "His name is Cam Pollock? Alright, I'm on it."

"Well, the hospital is locked down but it doesn't require stitches anyway," Kurt said, looking at someone's hand. "Just go home, ice it and wash it." He turned to face Santana, who was working on getting a patient out. "Didn't you get the memo? No one in or out."

"It's another OD. I ran out of narcan. He's a lumber salesman. I found him out in the lumber yard with this," Santana said, pulling something out of her pocket. "It's bad H." She sat down next to the guy and started doing an exam on him. "He's got agonal breathing."

"Blue lips, clammy skin, pupils are pinpoint," Kurt said. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "And here comes the narcan," he said, injecting it into the man's arm.

"Where am I?"

"Welcome to San Antonio Memorial. You, sir, just had a heroin overdose," Kurt said.

"I slipped a disk last year…"

"I don't care why you took it. Do not take any more. This dope is tainted. It will kill you. Do you need a number to a rehab facility?"

"I just messed up. It won't happen again."

"Well, just stay here. We'll keep an eye on you and make sure you're okay. We'll get you inside when it's safe; you've been unconscious for awhile."

"No, I'm good," the man said, starting to collect his stuff. "Thanks, man."

Santana watched him get out of the ambulance. "You're not going to call SAPD?"

"I'm not a doctor. Not a cop. Everybody deals with pain their own way. Some just not as well as others."

"I hear that," Santana sighed. "So, what about Sam? What's his deal? He banging the intern with the legs?"

"Well, aren't you the delicate little flower. Yeah, they're involved."

Santana shrugged. "For now. I mean, female doctor with a male nurse? Ever seen that one work?"

"As a friend of them both, I'm surprised it's lasted this long."

"Good to know."

"I didn't say anything," Kurt said, winking at Santana.

"Yes you did."

Kurt started pacing the front entrance and saw someone walk up and try to get into the hospital. "You can't go in. ER's on lockdown."

"But my brother-in-law's in there."

"I can get a message to his doctor."

"He _is_ a doctor. Finn Hudson. I need to see him right now."

Inside the hospital, Puck and Finn were walking around talking about their patients. "We still have to remove the foreign body in patient zero."

"Yeah, cesium's gnarly stuff," Finn said, running a hand through his hair. "NRC hotline give you an antidote?"

"Prussian blue. It's rare, our pharmacy doesn't stock it and everybody's closed for the night."

"Try Fort Hood. They might have it."

"Good idea. How's the undercover cop?"

"He's hanging in there. He lost his partner a couple of years back. His wife's a cop so Rach is with her."

"It's a little too close to home, Finn. Do you want to trade?"

"No, I can get them through it," Finn said as he reached into his pocket to get his phone. "It's Kurt, I should take this." He hit the accept button on his phone. "What's going on, Kurt?"

"There's a woman out here and tells me she's your sister-in-law, Annie. She says you've been ignoring her phone calls."

Finn groaned. "Yeah. Put her on."

Kurt shrugged and handed Annie the phone. "Hey baby."

"Annie. So, you're here in my parking lot?"

"Atlanta sucks. I got a nursing job in San Diego. Can I crash at your place? We can hang out, catch up."

"Thanks for the heads-up on that one, Annie."

"I tried. You didn't answer. I thought you were dodging my calls."

"Why would I do that? And, sure. You can, um, crash at my place. There's a key—"

"Above the porch light. Some things never change."

"I'll see you later," Finn said, hanging up the phone as quickly as possible.

"It's my job, Artie," Puck said outside of Oren's trauma room. "That little piece of cesium can kill everyone in this hospital."

"Look, you've trained me, Puck. You know I can remove it. Besides, you have a wife and three kids. I just have me. I'm already exposed. Why put you at risk too?"

"Because 60 percent of Oren's bone marrow is in his pelvis. If you don't remove all the contamination, his T-cells will die. And then he will die an extremely painful death from infection in two weeks. Not to mention if you mishandle the cesium, you'll turn this hospital into a nuclear wasteland. So you better be sure," Puck said, handing Artie the nuclear container.

Outside of the cop's trauma room, Rachel was leaning against the door as his wife spent time with him. "How's she doing?" Finn asked, coming up to stand next to her.

"She's holding up. You were gone for awhile. Everything okay?" Rachel asked, turning around to face Finn.

"Yeah, just had to talk to Puck about the radioactive guy," Finn said as Rachel's phone started vibrating. "You gonna answer that?" Finn asked when she made no move to get her phone.

"No. It's just my mother," she lied.

"Are you okay? You just seem a little distracted."

Rachel opened her mouth to tell him the truth but stopped at the last second. "Yeah. I just feel badly for her," she said as the monitors started beeping like crazy. "His BP's dropping."

"What's happening?"

"There's no new blood in the thora-seal," Rachel said, putting on gloves.

"Distended neck veins. It's not his lungs," Finn said, changing the recline on the hospital bed.

"What does that mean?" his wife asked.

"Muffled heart sounds and a rub," Finn said, listening to his heart.

"There's blood pooling around the heart and we need to drain it," Rachel explained to his wife. "I need you to step out, please."

"Prep for a bedside ultrasound. Hand me a spinal needle."

Rachel got the ultrasound set up as Finn started injecting him with the needle. "Slowly." She studied the ultrasound screen. "You're in."

"Damn it. His blood's clotted. It's too thick for a needle."

"Pressure's dropping."

"Scalpel," Finn said to Rachel.

She turned to face him as her eyes widened. "You're gonna do a pericardial window?"

"We have to remove the clot. And we can't go upstairs, so we have to do it here or he dies."

In the girl's trauma room, Joey was instructing Mercedes on what to do. "You want to feel for the L4-L5 intervertebral space. Go slowly until you feel a pop. You're doing great, Mercedes, you just have to trust it."

Mercedes let out a loud gasp. "I think I got it."

"Okay. Cool. Now, remove the stylet and let the tube fill with clear fluid." Joey watched to make sure she was doing it right. "Whoa…" he said when he saw blood coming out instead.

"Did I hit an artery?"

"No, she ruptured a cerebral aneurysm. Tell radiology we're on the way," Joey said to one of the nurses. "I need a coil embolization stat. We need to stop this bleeding in her brain."

In Oren's trauma room, Artie was working on him as Puck directed him from outside the room. "Remove in cesium intact or you'll increase his exposure."

Artie pulled it out and held it in his forceps. "Got it out."

"That's it? That's all it is? That's my kryptonite?"

"That is it," Artie said, putting it into the nuclear container. "I will be right back," Artie said, taping the lid shut. He held the container at arm's length and started walking it out to where Puck and three guys dressed in suits were standing.

"These guys are from the nuclear regulatory committee," Puck said, gesturing to them. "They'll take it from here."

Artie handed them the container and let out a sigh. "Piece of cake. What's next?"

"Next is the hard part. We have to cut away the exposed tissue in Oren's thigh. It's messy, so watch for further contamination from blood or needle sticks. One mistake and you could end up as sick as he is."

Outside of the cop's trauma room, Rachel was talking with his wife. "We've had our ups and downs, you know, since Mikey died. Pete still blames himself. It's why he has to save people. Always puts himself last."

"Yeah, I know someone like that," Rachel said, not taking her eyes off of Finn.

"Everybody warned me, but I thought he changed. I guess I was kidding myself."

"Not that it's any part of my business, but the hardest part is realizing that their recovery is about them, not about you."

"I really do love him."

Rachel sighed. "Yeah. I get it."

"I can't look," Oren said in his trauma room as Artie was working on cutting away the tissue. "It makes me dizzy."

"You're doing great, Oren."

"Nice work, Artie," Puck said, giving him an encouraging smile. "Excellent touch. Your dad would be proud."

"Your dad's some big-shot Doc?" Oren asked.

"Just one of the top neurosurgeons in the country. But, you know, no pressure. Just like being Superman's kid."

"That must suck. If you don't mind me asking, why did you become a doctor then?"

"I don't know. It's just what we do in my family. Me, my brothers, my sister…"

"Maybe you can be Superman somewhere else. Like the ocean."

"Well, that would make me Aquaman," Artie said, smiling at him.

"That's right. Well, Aquaman still gets to fight bad guys. And he gets to, like, talk to whales and dolphins and stuff like that."

"Good point. What about you?"

"I partied a lot. I partied my way out of college," Oren said with a slight chuckle. "But my dad was okay. He said, you know, you got to screw up to know what you want to do. I took that advice and now I'm thinking about going to a culinary arts institute, you know?"

"Your dad sounds like a cool guy."

"My mom split when I was four and now I tell everybody that I feel like I won the dad lottery. And it's true, I did. I wouldn't trade my life with anybody else."

Outside, Jesse and Sam were throwing out the trash bags that were possibly contaminated. "You know about me and Mercedes?" Sam asked.

"What? Hooking up? Come on, this is a hospital. You can't hide that."

"I like her. I do. We started out just having fun but now it seems like she doesn't want to take things to the next level."

"Well, maybe she doesn't want anything serious. Wants to focus on her career. Careers are important. Let me tell you something, my dad worked in construction and I promised him and myself that I would never work with my hands," Jesse said as he threw away more trash bags.

Sam started laughing. "And now your broke ass is mopping floors, slinging trash…"

"You're right, Sam. But one day, I am gonna be a doc. What about you? Are you going to be the good time Charlie of the ER or are you really gonna make something of your life?"

"I thought we were talking about Mercedes?"

"Yeah. It's all tied in. If you're this frustrated with your life at 30, you're really going to be this pissed off at 40. Anyway, good luck with Mercedes," he said, shutting the lid to the trash. "Oh, if she ever needs a replacement, I'm the guy."

"She'd crush you like a damn bug."

"But what a way to go out, though."

"Will Laura recover?" Mercedes asked Joey when they got out of surgery.

"We won't know until she wakes up. But she's lucky. Usually a bleed-out like that is found on autopsy. Thanks to your excellent diagnosis, we got her in time."

"I wouldn't have made it without you," Mercedes said as she started to take off her trauma gown.

"Unless you'd have field experience. You know, Finn, Puck, Kurt, myself…we don't need machines to be good doctors. We trust our instincts."

"I'm not exactly Army material."

"You should do Doctors Without Borders when you're done with your residency," Joey said. "It'd be the best thing for your career."

"I'm not sure they'd take me."

"Why do you think that? You need to stop judging yourself so much. I see someone that can be a brilliant doctor. You just have to get out of your own way."

"It's hard. I was that kid who would get a 98 on a test and I'd be so pissed I didn't get a 100. I'm still that kid."

"And that makes you happy?"

"Not at all."

"So then change."

"It's not that easy," Mercedes said, clenching her teeth.

"See, there you go. Getting in your own way. I need to get up to personnel and tell them I'm out of here."

"You know Brody's gonna be pissed."

"Well he's not the one I care about disappointing," Joey said as he started walking off.

Back at the nurses' station, Puck was fielding calls from paramedics in the field. "We are still contaminated so I will let you know as soon as I know." Puck slammed the phone down. "EMS is on my ass to reopen," he said to the computer screen where Kurt was. They had set up Skype so the doctors would be able to communicate with each other since they all couldn't be in the hospital. "The rest of the county is overloaded, thanks to us."

"Well, I talked to my boys at Fort Hood. They can overnight the Prussian blue."

"Oren's exposure is in his pelvis. He'll be dead by morning. If you make the poison, make the fucking antidote too, right?" Puck said, feeling frustrated.

"Well, exposure to cesium-137 is pretty rare. So is the antidote."

"Actually it's not," Jesse said, coming up the nurses' station. "Prussian blue is an ink. It's the same compound used to print blueprints. I've been brushing up on my toxicology for my medical boards."

Rachel pushed open the door's to Pete's trauma room and walked in. "Hey," she said, walking over to the computers where Finn was.

"How's Denise?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the screens.

"She's holding up. Her husband lied to her."

"Yeah. To protect her."

"Maybe she doesn't need protection," Rachel said, starting to grow defensive.

"Where have I heard that one before, huh?" Finn asked, looking over at Rachel as he smiled. He felt his phone start to vibrate and pulled it out to see who's calling. He saw it was Annie and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Midnight caller?"

"Just my bookie. He wants me to start betting again. He misses the income."

"Yeah, I bet he does." The monitors started beeping again.

"He's throwing PVCs."

"Or maybe the chest tube is irritating his heart," Rachel said as they both rushed over to the bed. "Did his x-rays come back yet?"

"Yeah, they're on the computer."

Rachel pulled them up and looked. "Finn, it's a foreign body."

"Damn it. That's a knife blade."

"It probably broke off when he was stabbed," Rachel said, grabbing gloves for both her and Finn. "It's right next to his heart."

"He's in V-Fib. Paddles at 200," Finn said, turning around to set the charge. He set them on Pete's chest and they thumped. "Still V-Fib. Charging to 300."

"Finn, wait," Rachel said, holding out her hand. "The shock is moving the blade tip. If you shock him again, it's gonna tear his heart into ribbons."

"We need to get it out without cutting the heart. Hand a rib spreader and a 10 blade," Finn said, getting a trauma gown on.

In Oren's room, he was watching Artie extract the ink from a bottle. "That's my medicine. It looks like it's in a soda bottle."

"It's actually printer's ink. A paramedic picked it up from the newspaper plant. It's going to bond with the cesium in your intestines and you will evacuate the contaminants."

"Will it hurt?" Oren asked.

"Not at all. Your poop will be bright blue though."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, okay?"

"Sorry, but you've been saying that a lot."

"This is going to help you. It's going to help," Artie said.

"Okay."

"Now, you're going to feel a gag in your throat." Artie could tell Oren was getting a little nervous about everything. "Hey, do me a favor and close your eyes. Close your eyes and imagine you're on Crescent Lake with your dad."

Puck watched Artie from the lobby with a content smile on his face. Jesse walked up next to him. "Okay. I got everything geigered. The CT, waiting room, bathrooms. It's all done."

"If the doctor thing doesn't work out, you have a bright future in housekeeping," Sam said with a smile.

"Okay, let's reopen to trauma. Tell Kurt and take down all of the caution tape except for this side of the floor. Oren stays quarantined until we know how he responds to the antidote."

Outside the hospital, Kurt was flipping through pictures of him and Blaine on his phone, remembering all the good times that they had. He looked up when he heard the ambulance sirens go off and saw Santana get out of the ambulance. "Back again?" he asked, standing up from where he was sitting on the bench.

"And I'm not the only one. It's the same guy who said he learned his lesson," Santana said, opening the back of the ambulance.

"What happened?" Kurt asked, climbing into the back of the ambulance.

"I got called to the Alamo Plaza with a report of a man down. He was dead when I arrived."

"What a waste."

"He refused care. What else could you do? Would you be able to let me into the hospital? I have to fax some paperwork before I transfer him to the morgue."

Kurt started climbing out of the ambulance. "Yeah."

"Thanks," Santana said, following him to the doors.

"Damn. How long's it gonna be?" a guy asked, noticing the caution tape. Kurt ignored him as he started typing in the code to open the sliding doors. "We'll tell you when we're ready."

"Thanks, Kurt," Santana said, walking into the hospital.

"You're letting that bitch in there?" the guy said.

"What did you call me?"

"A bitch, _bitch_."

"You need to back up—" Santana started. She would have finished if Kurt hadn't stepped in and started punching the guy in the face.

"Kurt, what the hell?" Sam said, seeing what happened. "What are you doing?"

"He was trying to come in."

"That's fine. We're open again."

Kurt stared at the guy on the ground. "I'll get a gurney."

Back in Oren's room, Artie was drawing his blood again. "Your white blood cell count was lower, but that was expected. The next test will tell us how the antidote did," Artie said, taking the tourniquet off Oren's arm.

"It's a bummer we never got superpowers, Artie."

"Well, if we did, what would yours be?"

"I'd go back in time. Like, fly super fast, but in reverse."

"What era would you go to? Would you meet Lincoln or da Vinci?"

"I'd go to this morning before I got hurt. I'd blow off work today like Ferris Bueller. You ever seen that movie?"

"Hasn't everyone?" Artie said with a slight laugh.

Oren leaned his head back and rubbed his nose. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. "Artie, what's going on?"

"Um, it's okay. Platelets are down. Here, hold this up there," Artie said, handing him a bunch of tissues.

"I kind of can't breathe, Artie."

"You're fine. You're fine. Don't panic. Let's get you laying down and your legs up," Artie said, helping him move positions. He ran to the door. "I need help in here! Someone get Puck!"

"Seriously, Kurt?" Sam said as they wheeled the guy into the hospital. "All these cops out here and you knock the guy out?

"He started it. I was just—"

"Protecting me," Santana said, finishing Kurt's though.

"Okay. I'm on your team, but you need to get your story straight. This isn't just going away," Sam said.

"Crazy night, right?" Santana said, letting Kurt take the guy to a trauma room.

"Yeah, they're all crazy."

Sam started to walk away but Santana held her hand out to stop him. "You talking about doctors now?" She took his badge in her hands and looked at it.

"Where's Puck? Artie's guy is crashing," Jesse said, running over to where they were.

Kurt made sure someone was able to take the guy and he ran towards Artie's room, where he started listing off what was wrong. "Artie, do you know what to do?" Kurt asked.

"I got this. Don't leave me, Oren. I've got you." He shocked him once and it was enough to bring him back.

"What happened Artie?"

"You went away. But I got you back."

In Pete's trauma room, things weren't looking so well. "Blade's not anterior. Must be behind the heart," Finn said.

"Careful, Finn. One slip…"

"He's come this far. I'm not letting him down now. I got it. I'm worried about cutting the vena cava."

Rachel thought for a second. "Curved Kelly."

"Yeah."

Rachel got it from the supplies in the room and stepped closer to Pete. "Get it closer," Finn said, watching where she was going. "You're almost there."

"Got it," Rachel said.

"Heart's fibrillating."

"I need some room," Rachel said, squinting to try and get a closer look. "I got it." She made sure her grip was steady before she started pulling the blade out from the heart.

"Nice job," Finn whispered.

"Heart's back in sinuous."

"We did it. I couldn't have gotten through this without you. Let's close him up."

"Let's do it," Rachel said with a smile on his face.

"I checked Laura's medical records," Joey said outside of her recovery room. "She never got screened, knowing that she could have a ticking time bomb in her brain just like her dad."

"It doesn't mean it's inevitable," Mercedes said, shaking her head.

"Your mom's cancer? You take the BRCA test that we talked about to see if you have the gene?"

"I did. I'm just…waiting for the results."

"That took guts. It's scary to face our future."

"But if you can keep yourself from regretting something, then you should do it. Right?" Mercedes asked.

"Most definitely," Joey said nodding.

At the nurses' station, Santana caught up with Rachel. "So I talked to my guy. Your stalker got paroled last week."

"What?" Rachel asked, feeling her heart speed up. "He had eight more years."

"Apparently, he made a deal. But the DOC wants your help. They can revoke his parole for harassing you and lock him up."

Rachel sighed. "I have to tell Finn."

"Wait, I thought he was a new man."

"And he is. And we are. Look, it's just…there's some things he's still working through and if I tell him about this…"

"I don't understand, Rach. What are you so afraid?"

"Nothing. Santana, this isn't like what happened to you." Santana looked like she'd been slapped in the face. "Wait, San, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"Figure it out and let me know," Santana said, walking away from Rachel.

Rachel smacked her hand against the wall. "Damn it," she muttered under her breath.

In Pete's room, his wife opened the door. "Thank you," she said to Finn.

Finn nodded as he left the trauma room. "Hey, Annie," Finn said, the exhaustion evident in his voice. "I thought you wanted to crash. You're where?" he said, listening to her on the other line of the phone. "Okay," he said, hanging up the phone.

Finn looked around and saw Kurt. He walked over to him with a sheepish look on his face. "I need your help with Annie."

"Ah, the sister-in-law," Kurt said.

"She's Thad's wife," Finn said, trying to explain what was going on.

"She seems like a hot mess."

"Yeah, well, she hasn't been the same since he died," Finn said, the two of them stopping when they saw Rachel hunched over the nurses' station desk.

"I can tell her and Rachel aren't exactly kindred spirits," Kurt said.

"You could say they have a history," Finn said, trying to figure out exactly what to tell Kurt. "But that's a cat fight I don't want a part of."

"Good luck with that," Kurt said as he walked off.

Finn took a deep breath and walked towards Rachel. He cleared his throat and touched her back. "Hey," he said, stopping when she turned to look at him. "I'm gonna head out."

"You're leaving?" Rachel asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Yeah, I feel like crap. I just wanna crash at my place."

"You want me to come by later with some soup?" Rachel asked, trying to think of a way she could bring up what was going on with the stalker.

"No, I just need to sleep. I'll check in with you later," Finn said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear as he leaned in to kiss her. She opened her mouth to say something as he started to walk away. "Did you wanna talk to me about something?"

Rachel pressed her lips together. "It can wait. Get some rest," Rachel said, trying to hide her shaking hands from him.

After she finished her paperwork, she got changed quickly and walked out to her car, ready to put the shift behind her and curl up in bed to hopefully get more sleep than she'd been having the last few nights. She kept looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching her. When she got to her car, she stopped and jumped a little when she saw the driver's side door was ajar and the glass from the window was all over her seat. She walked closer and saw her tires were slashed. Her phone vibrated and she reached into her purse to see she had a new text message.

I WARNED YOU

She quickly deleted it and jumped when she heard a car horn from behind her. She turned around to see Brody pulling into the lot. He stopped in front of her car and got out. "Rachel, what happened? Are you okay?"

"I…I have a patient and he's been stalking me. I don't know…" Rachel said, looking around, trying to figure out where he was watching her from.

"Come on, get in the car," Brody said, gently pulling her towards his Porsche. "We'll call the police. Let me cancel my meeting." He dialed a number and waited for someone to answer on the other line. "This is Doctor Brody Weston from San Antonio Memorial Hospital. I need to speak with someone right away."

Finn walked up to Annie sitting at the bar. "I thought you needed to crash."

She got up, smiled and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "I needed a nightcap. And there's no booze at your house. Barkeep, two of your finest Irish whiskeys."

The bartender set two shot glasses down and Finn immediately turned his upside down. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"Finn Hudson, refusing Irish whiskey. It must be the end of days."

"Why are you here Annie?"

"I couldn't stay in your place anymore, Finn. Thad's everywhere and it got me so damn depressed."

"Yeah, I get that. I've been there."

"I'm starting over," Annie said. "But I wanted to finally say goodbye first. Just you and me. Just give him a proper send off. One last wake."

"I don't need to get wasted anymore to celebrate my brother."

"No, but it'd be a lot more fun."

Back at the hospital, Sam, Jesse and Artie were joking around at the nurses' station. "Big man on campus," Jesse said as Puck was walking up, looking completely worn out from the shift.

"Puck, you should have seen our boy flying solo on the code," Sam said.

"I know, he's really stepping up," Puck said with a smile. "But I need to talk to Artie." Sam and Jesse walked off and Puck stopped in front of Artie and dropped his voice. "I got Oren's last test." Puck handed the clipboard to Artie and he looked at it, feeling his face fall.

"Are you serious?" Oren asked when Artie told him the news.

"I'm sorry. You have two weeks – maybe three. There's the possibility of a bone marrow transplant but it's a Hail Mary."

"What about Alaska? Can I still go to Alaska?"

"You'll be too weak," Artie said, feeling his heart break for his patient. "But we can make you comfortable here."

"No, I wanna go to my dad's house. I can't stay here."

"Oren, you're still, um, contaminated. You'll expose your dad to radiation, poison his house by brushing your teeth or using the toilet. It's better if you stay here. I'm sorry, Oren. I really am."

"I got that job so I could go on the trip. And now I can't even go on the trip because of the job. I feel like somebody stole my life. Will…will you still take care of me?"

"Every day. If you'll let me."

"Yeah. I just don't want…I just don't want to do it alone.

At the bar, Finn and Annie clinked their glasses together and drank the shot. "Does what's-her-name know you're here?" Annie asked.

"What's-her-name does not."

"I can't believe you're still with her," Annie sneered.

"Why does Rachel bug you so much?"

"She thinks she's better than me."

"I don't think she thinks that at all."

"You're blind when it comes to her. She's not family," Annie said, pursing her lips. "Oh, I almost forgot. I wanted to show you something. I got your mom's videos transferred to digital." Annie rummaged around in her purse and pulled out a tablet.

"Oh god, pony football. Thad hit three touchdowns that game. Your brother was on our team. Thad and I had a bet about who would talk to you first. And then he hid my bike. Beat me to it that day."

"What if you won the bet?" Annie asked.

Back at Rachel's she was pacing in her living room trying to get ahold of Finn. "It went straight to voicemail," she said, hanging up the phone. "He must be asleep."

"Then I'm staying," Brody said.

"No. Brody, I'm fine. You can go, it's okay."

"Rachel, I saw your face. You were terrified. You don't have to put on a front for me. I'm not Finn."

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

"You know what that means. You're scared. That's normal."

Rachel sat down on her couch. "I still can't believe they let him out."

"Well, now they'll put him right back in. For good this time," Brody said, offering Rachel a smile.

"Thanks for being here, Brody," Rachel said quietly.

"Any time you have an insane stalker, I'm your guy. You should get some rest."

At the hospital, Puck handed Artie a bottle of pills. "You have the exposure of 30 x-rays so take the Prussian blue pills for a month to be safe. Take a few days off, too."

"I'm…I'm okay, actually. I'll see you tomorrow," Artie said as he started to walk out of the break room.

"You did good, Artie. You didn't think. You _acted_. That's the first step to being a real doctor," Puck said, smiling at Artie.

In Joey's office, Mercedes was in there, writing something down on a Post-It note. She heard the door open and looked up to see Joey walk in. "Hey! I was about to leave you a note."

"Well, that's perfect timing," Joey said with a smile. "I was looking for you. I wanted to give you my going away gift."

"Thanks," Mercedes said, taking off the bow and the tissues paper. She pulled out an oversized pair of sunglasses with palm trees and coconut drinks on the rims. "Very stylish," she said as she put them on.

"Absolutely. I figured if I got stationed somewhere tropical and you wanted to visit, you'd be set."

Mercedes nodded slowly. "So that's an invitation."

"Yes. It is. You know, the shift is over and I'm not your boss anymore. So I can say what I want."

"Which is?"

Joey closed the distance between the two of them and started kissing her, which Mercedes full heartedly reciprocated.

In the hallway, Sam was looking for Mercedes to see if she wanted to grab breakfast after the long and grueling shift. He stopped when he looked in the office and saw the two of them together and felt his heart slow down.

Jesse walked up next to him and saw what was going on. "Come on, Sam." He patted him on the back and walked off.

Kurt stepped outside the hospital and walked past one of the ambulances. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an ice pack fly towards him and he caught it. He looked up to see Santana standing there. He nodded in appreciation and walked off.

Back in the hospital, Puck stopped outside of Oren's room to see how he was doing. He saw Oren on the phone and backed up slightly, listening to what he was saying. "Do you have a minute to talk? It doesn't look good."

In Artie's car, he felt tears slide down his face and he started punching his steering wheel.

Back at the bar, Annie was showing Finn more pictures on the tablet. "The string ray. I loved that bike. I had a three-speed shifter on the frame. He'd never let me ride it."

"I bet he'd let you ride it now," Annie said. "Let's go back to your place. I'll make my famous Bloody Marys."

"I'll get the tab," Finn said, signaling to the bartender. He reached to his right and grabbed his phone. "Rachel called."

"Of course she did," Annie said bitterly.

"I'm gonna call her back."

"Whatever. I'm gonna hit the ladies' room. Watch my purse."

Finn finished the whiskey that was in his glass as he called Rachel.

Back at Rachel's, she'd finally fallen asleep on the couch and Brody pulled the blanket over her to keep her warm. When he heard he phone go off, he walked towards where she'd set it when she walked in and saw it was Finn calling. He furrowed his brow and hit ignore before setting back down on the table.

"Hey," Finn started when her phone went to voicemail. "I saw you called. You must be asleep now, so sleep well." He hung up and got up from the bar. "Can you take care of Annie's purse?" Finn asked. "I need some air."

Unbeknownst to Finn, the same batch that one the man from the shift overdosed from was sitting at the top of her purse.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Need To Know**

Finn awoke with a jolt to his alarm going off the morning after he was at the bar with Annie. He turned his alarm off and rubbed a hand over his face. "Annie?" he called, hoping she hadn't gotten into any trouble yet. "Annie, you awake?" He grabbed his shirt from off the floor and got up, trying to find her. "Annie?" He got to the top of the stairs and saw her collapsed at the bottom of the stairs and she was bleeding. He felt for a pulse and pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans. "I got you, Annie."

"911, what's your emergency?" the operator said on the other line.

"I need an ambulance to 742 Kenmar Drive. Female, 30, status post-fall with blunt head trauma. I'm a doctor and I need an ambulance here now," Finn said into the phone before hanging it up. "Hang on, Annie."

At the hospital, Rachel was in the bathroom looking at a timer on her phone. The alarm started ringing and she turned it off. She took a deep breath and picked up the pregnancy test on the bathroom countertop. She closed her eyes before looking at what it said and took another deep breath.

Pregnant.

She let out a surprised laugh and smiled but quickly found her smile fading.

"Oh my god," she muttered.

In the break room, Kurt's alarm was going off. He looked at his watch before taking the IV bag of fluids off the stand and walked out of the break room with it still in his arm.

"Damn, dude," Sam said, coming into the break room. "Did you get the license plate of the truck that ran over you?"

"I'm not having this conversation right now," Kurt said as he left the break room.

"Fine. But you better pound one of those energy things you drink. Or you, my friend, ain't making it through the shift."

Kurt shook his head and walked off in the opposite direction, hitting Rachel as he walked by. "Ow," she said, giving him a look. He muttered an apology and walked off. "What's his problem?" Rachel asked Sam.

"I think he's letting his buddies Jim Beam and Jack Daniels help him deal with the Blaine breakup."

"Poor guy," Rachel said, watching him walk off. "Have you seen Finn around?"

"I don't think he's here yet but check with Puck," Sam said before he walked off.

"Thanks," Rachel said, walking over to the nurses' station where Puck was. "Hey, Puck? Have you seen Finn?"

"I just got off the phone with paramedics," Molly said, coming over to talk to them. "Santana says they need a doctor out in the field. There's a boy with a bad neck injury and he's stuck in a well."

"Tell them to send Lassie," Puck said, trying to make a joke. Rachel and Molly just stared at him. "Oh, you were serious?"

"Yeah I was."

"Well, Finn's not in yet. Can you go?" Puck asked Rachel.

She bit down on her lip while she thought. "Okay. Yeah, I can go. Tell Santana I'm on my way," Rachel said, taking the search and rescue gear from Molly.

"Don't worry honey, it'll be okay," someone said as they walked into the ER.

Jesse recognized the voice. It was his ex-wife. "Hey sweetie. What are you doing here?" Jesse said, walking over to where his ex and his daughter were.

"She fell and hurt her wrist," his ex-wife said.

"What? Let me see it," Jesse said, taking his daughter's wrist gently in his hand.

"That really hurts," she said when he took the ice pack off.

"Sorry honey. What happened?"

"She was at a concert tonight and—"

"The Lil Wayne one?" Jesse asked, a look of annoyance crossing his face.

"People just started pushing and I fell and someone stepped on my hand."

"I thought we said that—"

"Mom said I could go. It's fine. Stephanie's mom went with us."

"Stephanie's mom? The crazy one?" Jesse asked, looking up at his ex-wife.

"She's not crazy; she's my friend. Now can you take care of your daughter's wrist please?"

"Yes. But I'm not done with this. Come on, come with me," Jesse said, leading his daughter towards the trauma rooms. "Artie, this is my daughter Naomi. Can we get her triaged and an x-ray on her wrist?"

"Sure thing. Follow me," Artie said, leading them all into the closest trauma room.

"Kurt, Puck! I need you!" Finn said, wheeling Annie into the ER. "Respiratory failure from head trauma."

"Annie? What's she doing in town?" Puck asked, noticing who the patient was.

"I'll explain later. We're going straight to CT."

"I saw her last night," Kurt said, watching them head towards a trauma room. "She looked like trouble."

"I found her at the bottom of the stairs. We had a few drinks last night and she must have fallen." Finn said.

"Why don't you step out and I'll take over the case," Puck said. "You shouldn't be working on family."

"I'm not leaving her," Finn said, getting the ultrasound machine set up.

"I think you should."

"I'm taking care of her, Puck. Gel," he said, holding out the wand for the machine. He put it against her stomach and looked for any internal injuries.

"There's something," Kurt said, pointing at something on the screen.

"She's bleeding. Blood's pooling at the bottom of her spleen. We need to get her to the OR. Come on, let's go."

Outside one of the ORs, Brody and Mercedes were coming out of a surgery. "Nice work," he commented.

"Thanks."

"I see Joey taught you well."

"He did. I still have a lot to learn from you. I'm just sad to see him go."

"Yeah, that's what I hear," Brody said as Mercedes made an uncomfortable face. "I'm just glad everybody up here's got something else to gossip about besides me."

"Which one of the ORs is free?" Finn asked as they got Annie up to the floor.

"What's going on?" Brody asked.

"Bleeding in her abdomen. It's a grade four splenic lac."

"We'll take her into OR two."

"I'm on it," Finn said, hitting the button to open the doors.

"For the hundredth time, Finn, you're not staffed as a surgeon at this hospital."

"Brody, it's his sister-in-law," Puck said, trying to explain the situation.

"Well, if you really care about her, you'll let a surgeon handle it. Let me take the lead. You're more than welcome to assist," Brody said.

"It's the right call," Puck agreed.

"Hey, hey," Finn said, stopping Brody before he went in. "Any sign of trouble, you call me. Okay?"

"Of course. Let's go."

Across town, Rachel had just arrived on the scene and was being briefed by the firefighters on site. "Two patients. The mother went down to rescue the boy. The boy's still down with a paramedic. Said we needed a doctor. We got the mother out but the boy can't be moved."

"Hi, I'm Doctor Berry," Rachel said, bending down to look at the mom's leg.

"I'm fine. You have to get my son Malcolm out of there, okay? Please just go!"

"Okay, I need someone to get a dressing on this," Rachel said before going to the well. She peered over the edge and saw Santana and the boy down there. "I'm here."

"What took you so long? He has…" Santana tried to finished but passed out next to the boy.

"Santana? Santana! I need to get down there," Rachel said to the firefighters that were there. "Ready?" she asked when she was rigged up. "Go." Slowly they started lowering her down into the well. "Hold on, Santana, I'm almost there," Rachel said, her voice muffled from the oxygen mask. She unclipped herself and went over to check on her best friend and Malcolm. "Take deep breaths for me," she said, putting the oxygen mask over Santana's face. "There you go, San. You're gonna be okay."

Rachel turned her attention to the boy laying next to Santana. "Hi, Malcolm. I'm Doctor Berry and we're gonna get you out of here, okay?" She started looking in his eyes to make sure everything was okay. "What the hell were you thinking?" she hissed at Santana. "There are pockets of methane gas in wells like these."

"Thought I'd be out faster," Santana said, taking the mask off her face. "And he needed the mask more than I did. Where's yours?"

"That's the last one. We have to alternate."

"Where's my mom? Is she okay?" Malcolm asked.

"She's good. She's up there waiting for you," Rachel said.

"I didn't think he could be moved," Santana said, trying to regain her strength.

"It's a good thing you waited. I don't think his neck is fractured but it's probably a locked facet. He needs to see an orthopedist when we get to the ER to make sure there's no permanent spinal cord damage." Rachel got Malcolm rigged up so they could leave and turned to Santana. "You ready to leave?"

"Absolutely," Santana said, trying to get to her feet.

"We're all set, bring him up," Rachel said, tugging on the cords.

Back at the hospital, Artie was doing on exam on Naomi. "Okay, give me a thumbs up. Can you tell me when this happened?"

"When Drake and Lil Wayne did Love Me."

"I love that song. Wait, did they do…"

"Artie, can you please take care of the wrist," Jesse snapped. "I can't believe you let her go, Lydia. We talked about this."

"We did talk about it but all her friends were going and I decided it was okay."

"Yeah, and look what happened."

"Oh please. This could have happened anywhere. Look how happy she is. She had a great time."

"Maybe you two need to have this conversation someplace else," Molly said. "Out," she said, holding open the door.

"You're Molly right?" Naomi asked. "My dad told me you're a hard ass."

"You got that right," Molly said with a laugh.

At the nurses' station, Mercedes finally found the one person she was looking for. "Sam!" she called. "I just want to talk to you."

"I saw you kiss him."

"It's not what it looked like," Mercedes said, dropping her voice so everyone didn't hear what was going on.

"You didn't have your tongue down Joey's throat? Because that's what it looked like. I know we were just doing the casual thing and maybe I was making too much of it. But, regardless, you know me. I'd never disrespect you like that. You know it," Sam said, brushing past her to go to a patient's room.

Inside the ambulance, Rachel made sure Malcolm was stable. "Malcolm, your mom is in the car behind us and she'll meet us at the hospital. I just wanna check your eyes real quick. You're doing great, buddy." She looked over at Santana. "He's ready."

Santana rummaged through her bag and pulled out a needle to sedate him. "Morphine's in. He should be out for a little bit." She looked up at Rachel and smiled. "So, Mommy, you haven't told Finn yet?"

"No, I haven't told Finn. I mean, I just took the test. But when I get back to the hospital and I find a quiet moment to talk to him…I mean, it's not exactly something you just blurt out."

"So, is this a good thing?" Santana asked, putting her stethoscope around her neck.

"San, I am freaking out. I mean, I always knew I was gonna be a mother. I just didn't picture it happening like this. I mean, we didn't exactly plan it. But I'm also happy. Finn and I, we aren't perfect. But we love each other. So…" Rachel said, trailing off.

Santana smiled at her best friend. "Alright. Let's do this then."

In Annie's recovery room, Finn was sitting by her bedside waiting for her to wake up. "Hi," she tried to say.

"Don't. You were intubated so your throat is sore. And you were in surgery. You fell down the stairs and hurt your spleen. Gave me quite a scare. You're gonna be okay. Just go back to sleep. I'll be right by your side," Finn said.

Out in the lobby, Jesse and Lydia were still arguing. "Just because we're divorced doesn't mean you can undermine me, okay?" Jesse said. "We're still supposed to make decisions together."

"Yeah, like when you made the decision to quit your job."

"That's different."

"You're right, that's way worse. You cost our family a lot of money a year and now I have to carry a significant burden."

"What was I supposed to do? Be miserable?" Jesse asked.

"You were miserable for years," Lydia said, rolling her eyes.

"That's because I was so unhappy."

"When you have two kids, you make sacrifices. Speaking of, did you pay the hotel for Naomi's birthday?"

"Yes. I already told you that so please stop asking."

"Excuse me," Artie said, not wanting to get in between the two of them. "The x-ray shows no fractures. It's just a sprain."

"Oh thank god," Lydia said. The three of them walked into the exam room where she was getting a brace put on her wrist.

"Can I stay with Dad?" Naomi asked.

"You sure, h-honey? It's not gonna be that much fun," Jesse said. "I'm gonna be a little busy too."

"I think it's a great idea," Lydia said. "She should stay and find out what her father really does."

"Yeah, come on, Dad. I'm not even that tired." She heard a siren wailing and someone yelled incoming. "Cool, a patient. Can I watch you work?"

"Uh, no. That's not my patient. Maybe later, honey. I'll take you to the break room so you can hang out."

"Drop her off in the morning and make sure she eats something," Lydia said as they started walking out.

"I've been feeding her for 15 years. I think we'll be okay."

In the lobby, Rachel was bringing in her patient. "I have a bilateral locked facet from a deep fall in a well," she said.

"Never seen one of these before," Artie said.

"Well, here's your chance," Rachel said.

Santana started following her into the trauma room when she fell and gripped onto the nurses' station desk. "You okay?" Sam asked, noticing what happened.

"Yeah, just tweaked my ankle going down the well. I'll be fine, I just need to put some ice on it."

"Do not listen to her," Rachel said from where she was standing. "She passed out from methane. She needs fluids and a blood-gas."

"Rachel needs the same test."

"Yes, and I will get it." She started looking down the hallway for someone. "Hey, Kurt, can you take care of Mrs. Coury for me please?"

"I'm not leaving my son's side."

Rachel sighed. "Fine, but you have to let us do our work. Can you page ortho?" she asked Kurt as they entered the trauma room.

"No ortho tonight. I already called them on another case."

"On three. One, two, three," Rachel said as they lifted Malcolm to transfer him.

"Are you worried about cervical subluxation?" Kurt asked.

"What does that mean?" Malcolm's mom asked.

"It means we're gonna have to reduce his spine ourselves. Kurt, Artie, get me the Gardner-Wells tongs and some five pound weights. We're gonna have to snap his neck back into place."

"Are you gonna knock me out?" Malcolm asked.

"I'm sorry but we need you awake for this," Rachel said, massaging his forehead to see where they should place the tongs. "We are going to numb you so you won't feel a thing."

"Where's my mom?"

"She's right outside. We're not going to let anything bad happen to you, okay? It's gonna be alright, I promise," Rachel said, rubbing his hand to try and calm him down. "Ready, Kurt?"

In the lobby, Puck was looking at paperwork when Jesse came up. "Hey, Puck. My daughter's here tonight, I hope that's okay."

"Yeah, of course."

"Good. See, the thing is," Jesse said, clearing his throat, "You know…with the whole job change and all…I may have insinuated that I do a bit more than a physician's assistant."

"How much more?" Puck asked as Naomi walked up.

"Dad, I'm bored. When am I gonna see all the cool lifesaving stuff you do?"

"Anyway, Jesse, about your patient…" Puck said, hoping Jesse would catch on to what he was doing. "Radiology called. The CT shows a small pneumo. You think a Heimlich valve would do?"

"Yes. Yes, if it's small and non-traumatic, that should work," Jesse said. He leaned over the desk. "Naomi, stay out of people's hair. I'm gonna go check on my patient."

"Thanks, Jesse," Puck said, going back to his paperwork.

"Okay, seriously, what's the grossest thing you've pulled out of someone's butt?" Naomi asked Puck. He looked up at her like she was crazy.

"We hit the bone," Artie said in Malcolm's trauma room.

"Okay, Malcolm. We're all set here. You're going to feel a little pressure when we add weights but we'll take things slow, okay?" Rachel said.

"I start with 10, right?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, looking at the monitors to make sure everything was okay.

Artie added a weight and the monitors started beeping a little more. "Doctor Berry? I can't feel my legs."

"Can you move your toes for me?" Rachel asked.

"I can't!"

"He lost his reflexes," Kurt said, tapping his feet.

"Well, so much for slow. Kurt, help me pull." Kurt took the side Rachel wasn't on and Artie held down Malcolm's shoulders so he wouldn't move. "Okay, on three. One, two, three." They pulled and heard his neck snap back into place. "You okay, Malcolm?"

"Yeah. It feels a lot better. I can move my neck."

"And the numbness?" Kurt asked, handing Rachel his reflex sensor.

"It's still there but not as bad."

"Are we too late?" Artie asked as Rachel tested to see if his reflexes were back.

"I don't know. If we're lucky his spinal cord is just contused and he'll gain function when the swelling does down. But for now, we're just gonna have to wait. I need the two of you to get started on the halo and I'm gonna go get changed," Rachel said, taking off her gloves before she left the room.

A little later, the monitor in Annie's room started beeping faster and she was having trouble breathing. "What is it? What's going on? Brody, I need a crash cart!" Finn yelled. "She's not breathing."

"Is she bleeding again?" Brody asked, running into the room.

"She was talking, she was fine."

"I need to intubate her again."

Rachel was walking by and heard the machines beeping. She walked in and stopped when she saw who the patient was. "Is that Annie?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?" Rachel asked, taking her stethoscope from around her neck to listen to her heart.

"She fell down the stairs this morning."

"She was at your house?"

"Let's not do this right now," Finn said. "Brody, hand me the laryngoscope."

"Did you run a tox screen?" Rachel asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"No."

"Give me a shot of Naloxone," Rachel said tiredly.

"Rach, we just had drinks last night, okay? She isn't on anything. She fell down the stairs and hurt her spleen."

"You wanna make a bet?" Rachel said, injecting Annie with the medicine. Annie started choking as soon as Finn tried to intubate her. "Anesthesia cross reacted with whatever narcotics she had in her system," Rachel said.

"Damn it, if I'd have known that—" Brody said, glaring at Finn.

"I swear we just had drinks last night." He walked into Annie's line of vision. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She looked to her right and saw Rachel standing there. "What's she doing here?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"What am _I_ doing here? I just saved your life." Rachel started coughing and felt the queasiness back in her stomach. "Excuse me," she said, rushing out of the room.

"You're cute. What's your name?" Annie asked Brody.

"Doctor Weston. You should sit back and try to relax, okay? I'll give the two of you some privacy."

In the bathroom, Rachel coughed a few more times before flushing the toilet. She sniffed a few times and opened the stall door to wash her mouth out. She saw Mrs. Coury in the bathroom and bit her lip. "Sorry about that." She turned on the faucet and held her hair back with one hand so she could get some water.

"I just came in here so no one would see me cry. I'm just trying to be brave for him, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. You two seem very close."

"We are. It's just me and him. We were camping for the first time. I don't know what I was thinking. Is he going to be okay?"

"We're gonna take another look at him in an hour," Rachel said, trying to soothe the woman.

"Okay. Do you have any kids?"

Rachel couldn't help the smile that broke out on her face and she pressed her lips together.

"Oh my god. You're pregnant. The retching and the hesitation right now. It's the greatest. Not the pregnant part, that sucks. But being a mom…your heart really does triple in size like in _The Grinch_. And it starts sooner than you think. Those little buggers…they weasel their way right up there."

Rachel smiled again, feeling herself growing excited for her and Finn to have the baby.

"You have to stop calling me," Kurt said as he was walking the hallway. "It was one time, and you know what? I don't even remember his name. So let it go," he said as he hung up the phone.

Mercedes saw him walking and started walking next to him. "So, Sam's upset with me now, which really sucks. But I'm sure he's already told you about what happened, right?"

"About you shoving your tongue down Joey's throat in front of him? Nah, he failed to mention that."

"That's not fair. That's not actually how it happened."

"And yet it happened," Kurt said.

"Why are you being such a jerk? I just want to talk to you like you talk to me about Blaine."

"I'm done talking about Blaine. He left me. I've moved on."

"Moved on to what? You look like hell," Mercedes said.

Kurt took a deep breath. "Look, I'm sorry about you and Sam. I'm sorry that Joey left. But I've got work to do and I'm sure you do too."

Rachel stomped over to the nurses' station desk and started looking for something. "Hey," Puck said. "You okay?"

"My stomach's a little queasy. It's just…bad sushi. I think. Did you know Annie was in town?"

"First of all, you need some gum. At least two pieces. Second of all, I didn't know about Annie until Finn brought her in," Puck said, laying a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "He didn't tell you?" Puck asked, surprised when Rachel shook her head. "Well, I guess it's because he knows the two of you don't get along."

"It's because she's a terrible influence on him," Rachel muttered.

"No argument here. We've seen it before. It happens every time. But, she is his brother's widow so I'm just saying…the more you push—"

"Exactly. This is why I need to get you on my team. She knows how to manipulate him. Look, I'm not trying to be a bitch here, it's just…"

"I know, I know. It's just…he's a pit bull when it comes to family. Let's just try to lead him in the right direction," Puck said.

"Okay. You're right." Rachel thought to herself for a minute. "I should go brush my teeth."

"Good idea," Puck said when she walked off.

In Annie's hospital room, she was trying to explain herself. "I'm sorry. I just…it's been really rough since Thad died. It's been four years and I know I'm supposed to get over it by now, but…if only it were that easy. So I thought that if I came to see you—"

"You can always come and see me," Finn said.

"I know. But last night we started reminiscing about him and…I just started feeling things I didn't want to feel. So I took something. It was a onetime thing. I just had some old pills in my purse."

"Annie, if I hadn't found you when I did…you can't do that. Understand?"

"I won't. I swear. I threw the rest of them out after I took them. I'm really tired. Can we talk later?" Annie asked as her head started to droop.

"I'll check in with you later," Finn said.

"Are you crazy? You can't take a tight end in the first round of a fantasy draft!" Santana said to Sam as he was checking out her ankle in the break room.

"You do when it's Jimmy Graham."

"Over Brees? You're crazy," Santana said.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think only one of us actually played football," Sam said as he started wrapping her ankle.

"Players make the worst coaches."

"Oh, so you're a coach now too?"

"That feels good," Santana said, taking her hair out of her ponytail. "Wanna do this one too?" she said, gesturing down to her other ankle.

"Well aren't you the bossy one?" Sam said with a laugh.

"What's going on in here?" Rachel asked, opening the door.

"See you around," Sam said once he finished wrapping her ankle.

"Thank you," Santana called as he left the room,

"What was that all about?" Rachel asked, noticing something was going on between the two of them.

"Have you seen that man's biceps?"

"Really? That's all it takes for you?" Rachel said with a laugh, sitting down next to her best friend.

"I'm sure his abs are amazing too. I don't know, I've just been watching him this past month, and he's just so nice. Guys who look like that are usually dicks."

"He's a real sweetheart but I think he's seeing Mercedes."

"Oh please. I heard she made out with Chavez. It's open season, girl," Santana said. "Did you get your blood-gas and isotopes back yet?"

"I did. And me and my little friend are a-okay."

"Okay," Santana said nodding. "And did you tell Finn about the possibility of a little Finn in there?"

"Not yet. I want to tell him, but now is definitely not the best time considering Annie is here."

"Oh joy."

"I know. I just gave her a shot of Narcane."

"She should keep that stuff in her purse," Santana said.

"Tell me about it."

"Did you ever tell Finn about all the stuff she did?"

"No. I mean, when Finn came back from the war, she was the least of his problems."

"That's true."

The door to the break room opened and Artie rushed in. "Rachel! Malcolm's pressure is dropping."

"Alright, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, Santana," Rachel said, pushing herself up off the couch.

"Blood pressure and heart rate are both dropping," Artie said when they got into his room. "I don't get it."

"That means he's going into neurogenic shock from his spinal injury."

"What does that mean?" his mom asked.

"It means his spinal cord is more injured than we thought."

"So now what?"

"Janine, we are going to do everything that we can for Malcolm, okay? Let's place a central line and start a dopamine drip."

In the lobby, Kurt was filling out some paperwork. "Here you go, Jocelyn. Just make sure you check his vitals every two hours, okay?" He turned around and was greeted with a punch in the face.

"Stay away from him, you hear me?" Sam said, coming to his friend's defense. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Let him go," Kurt said, feeling blood coming from his nose.

"You sure you don't want to take him out back and kick his ass?" Sam said.

"Anytime, pal. Anytime."

"Let him go!" Kurt yelled, attracting the attention of Puck.

"Hey, Kurt, let me take a look at that," Puck said.

"I got it. Just leave me alone."

"You take a break!" Puck called after him. "Until you get your head straight."

Rachel met up with Finn outside of Malcolm's trauma room. "So, you didn't want to tell me that Annie was here because you didn't want me to bitch about her. Am I right?"

"Yeah, pretty much. The two of you have some alpha female drama going on so I figured that she could come and go and then I'd tell you."

"But she _didn't_ come and go, did she? Finn, you need to set some boundaries or she'll take advantage of you."

"Rach, she's family. I'm not just gonna push her away."

"That's not what I said."

"We were reminiscing last night. It was nice. She got carried away. It's not gonna happen again."

"I don't want to fight with you about this. There's just so many other things I would rather talk to you about."

"Like what?"

Rachel opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Nurse Heather. "Doctor Berry, we need you in trauma one."

Rachel gave Finn another look and sighed before rushing off. "Malcolm's fine, it's his mom," Artie said.

"Help my mom. Please."

"It's burning and it hurts," Janine said about the dressing on her leg. "Can you just get this thing off me?" Artie came up with scissors and started cutting the bandaging, revealing redness on her leg.

"We need to move her. Get her to trauma two now," Rachel said as they lifted her up.

"What's going on with my mom?" Malcolm asked as he watched the doctors work on fixing his mom.

"I need you to stay calm," Rachel said. "Don't move or you'll hurt yourself." Rachel swabbed the wound. "Okay, give her a dose of Zozane and send this off for a wound culture, please."

"There's necrotic tissue here. It's infected," Finn said.

"It needs to be debrided."

"I can do it," Artie said.

"Are you guys okay working on this?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, thanks, Finn," Rachel said.

"Hey, we'll talk later." Finn took off his gloves and left the trauma room.

Finn walked the hallways with a dejected look on his face. It definitely wasn't his best shift.

"Hey!" Santana said, hobbling over to him on her crutches. "I heard Annie's in town."

Finn groaned and tried not to roll his eyes. "Am I gonna get this from you too? You and Rachel don't like her; I get it. I'm tired of all this girl drama," he said, trying to walk past her.

"Girl drama? This isn't girl drama, you jerk," Santana said, reaching a hand out to stop him. "Rachel has legitimate reasons."

"Well, I've never heard any."

"Yeah, because she never wanted to burden you. But I don't have that problem."

"What are you talking about?" Finn asked.

"I'm talking about how you have no idea about all of Annie's crap that Rachel had to put up with while you were gone. Annie was, and from the sounds of it, still is a mess. She is an addict, Finn," Santana said, trying to get Finn to realize what was going on.

"That can't be true."

"Annie stole money from Rachel, she wrecked her car…all kinds of lying. But Rachel helped her because she loves you. Rach even got her into rehab but it never stuck."

"So why didn't she ever tell me?"

"She was trying to protect you. You had enough on your plate. But now is the time for you to deal with it and take the stress off of Rachel. Especially now," Santana said, softening her glare at Finn.

"Especially now?" Finn asked, completely confused.

"Just because…this is your chance to be together," Santana said, not wanting to spill the beans on the baby. "Don't screw it up." Santana stared at him for a few minutes before she started hobbling down the hospital hallway.

Across the hospital, Naomi was looking for her dad and saw him in an exam room. "There you are, I…is that pee?" she asked, seeing Jesse trying to get someone's sample into a cup. He jumped when he heard her voice and spilled a little on his scrubs. "That's gross. What are you doing with pee?"

"You know what, honey? There's something I need to tell you. And there's probably not a better time than when I'm soaked in a homeless man's urine," Jesse said, taking off his gloves and disinfecting his hands. "I need to tell you about my job."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm technically not even a PA. I exaggerated what I do. Yes, I have helped save a man's life, I do work on patients, but for the most part, I do paperwork, draw blood and…sort urine samples."

"So you quit your job to do this?"

"I quit to become a doctor."

"But I thought after the test you will be a doctor. Right?" Naomi asked.

"Well…sort of," Jesse said, sitting down on one of the chairs. "I'll have my degree, but I'll still have my internship and residency. It'll be about four years before I become an actual doctor."

"Four years?" Naomi said. "So until then, you just clean up pee?"

"That'll be all done after the test. But, listen to me, I have been humbled by this job. Even humiliated. But I wouldn't trade it for one second. Besides you and your brother, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I hope you learn from me that you should always follow your dreams."

"Maybe you should have chosen a smaller dream, Dad," Naomi whispered.

Back in Annie's room, she was sleeping and Brody was watching to make sure everything was okay after the surgery. He heard the door open and looked up to see Finn coming into the room. "I just came to change her dressing, but she's still asleep," Brody said to fill him in.

"Thanks," Finn said, walking into the room.

"So, Rachel was really freaked out last night about the stalker guy. Is there any news on him yet?" Brody asked, trying to make conversation while Annie was still asleep.

"What?" Finn asked, noticing he was missing out on something. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh sorry. I thought she'd told you. That stalker guy from a few years ago. He's out. He slashed her tires—" Brody was cut off by the sounds of the machine beeping like crazy.

"She's getting tachy again," Finn said.

"She's jaundiced," Brody said, pulling back the blanket.

"Annie," Finn said, trying to get her to wake up. "Annie. Can you hear me?"

"She's definitely jaundiced," Brody said, looking at her eyes. "Her liver's shutting down."

"Annie, what else did you take?" Finn asked, feeling his patience get tested.

"Nothing."

"Did you take any other pills? Painkillers? Look at me, I need to know. What you took could kill you."

"Vicodin. I've been taking Vicodin the past few days."

"Vicodin, that's got Tylenol in it," Finn said to Brody. "Too much of that will kill your liver," he directed towards Annie.

"Give her 150 milligrams per kilogram of acetolsystene. Let's hope we're not too late," Brody said.

"Damn it, Annie," Finn said. "You lied to me."

In the lobby, Kurt was walking around, trying to cool off when Puck saw him. "Kurt, slow down. I just got chewed out by HR over your little incident earlier. Between that and going all Jon Jones on that guy last night, you're really racking up some negative points."

"That guy was messing with Santana, all right?"

"I don't want to hear anymore about it. I defended you so get it together. And for the rest of the shift you're on cold and flu only," Puck said as he walked off.

"Molly, are the results back from Mrs. Coury's wound culture?" Rachel asked as she was filling out paperwork at the nurses' station desk.

"Not yet."

"Okay, just let me know when they get in, okay?" She finished the paperwork and handed it to Molly.

"Hey, Rachel," Brody said, coming over to the nurses' station. "You got a second?"

"Uh, sure." She followed Brody into the hallway a little more so they could try to be out of earshot from any gossping co-workers. "What's up?"

"Just wanna give you a heads up. I didn't realize you hadn't told Finn about the stalker."

"So you told him?" Rachel asked, feeling her heart speed up. This was definitely not a good thing.

"Well, I didn't know you hadn't. It just came up."

"I haven't exactly had the time. Did he say anything?"

"He didn't seem happy about it. Anyway, I'm sorry. I really didn't know."

"Okay," Rachel sighed.

Artie ran up to where the two of them were talking. "Rachel, we need you!" She started running after Artie and they went into Janine's trauma room. "It's already spreading and her pressure's dropping," Artie said.

Rachel looked at the bubbling of her skin where the wound was. She pulled one of the machines closer and did a reading of the amount of oxygen getting to the leg. "Her subcutaneous tissue isn't oxygenating. It's why she's getting septic," Rachel said.

"There's gas underneath the skin, there's blistering. This is necrotizing fasciitis."

"Flesh eating bacteria," Artie said.

"She needs to get up to surgery," Brody said. "Let's wrap this leg and get her moving."

They started running her up to the OR floor and Mercedes met them up there. "Let's get her prepped in OR two and get scrubbed in," Brody said.

"You got this?" Rachel asked, stopping outside the OR doors.

"I'll keep you updated."

"Thanks," Rachel said as she started walking off.

"Rachel," Finn said from behind her. She stopped taking off her gloves and turned around to face him. "Did the infection spread?"

"Yeah. Nec-fasc. I hope we got it in time. Listen, Finn, about this whole stalker thing—"

"Yeah, I know. Brody told me all about it. That was a lot of fun."

"I'm sorry. They caught the guy, though. And I called you last night to tell you about him, but you didn't answer your phone. Brody ended up taking me home."

"Brody took you home? This just gets better and better."

"He was doing me a favor!"

"Yeah, of course he was."

"You know what, maybe if you weren't out drinking all night with Annie—"

"Right, Annie. You know, Santana had some really interesting things to tell me about you and her. How come you never told me about you and Annie?"

"Because you and Thad were over there, risking your lives, and the last thing either one of you needed was to be worrying about her. But when you got home from that war, you were in no place to deal with that, or – or anything for that matter."

"And any time over the last four years or even tonight."

"Finn!" Rachel said, feeling herself getting upset. "It was never the right time, okay? I wanted to protect you," Rachel said, feeling tears come to her eyes.

"And you don't think that I'd want to know that my brother's wife was an addict?"

"Of course. I didn't know she was back in our lives. And had you told me that she was here, I would have told you."

"Well, she's here now. And you don't turn your back on family," Finn said before he started walking off.

Rachel watched him walk off as one hand dropped to her stomach.

Finn walked to Annie's trauma room and shut the curtains. "Are you mad at me?" she asked.

"No. I'm not mad at you," Finn said, crossing the room to sit on her bed. "I was worried because you could've died."

"I bet Rachel would have loved that."

"From what I hear, she's helped you quite a bit over the years."

"She told you that?"

"No, actually, she didn't. She knows how to keep a secret. So I think you should rethink how you feel about her. You need help. So I want you to go to rehab."

"Been there, done that. It's just a bunch of pathetic people talking about their problems. I don't have a problem, Finn. Believe me."

"Sure. But I want you to go. For me. So that I know you're okay," Finn said.

"Fine," Annie huffed. "I'll look into it when I get to San Diego."

"I want you to do it here so I can help. There's a place in San Antonio and when you've recovered, I'm gonna take you."

"Fine. I'll go."

Finn smiled. "You know I love you, right?"

"You're like the only family I have left."

In an exam room, Kurt was looking at a patient. "Let's take a look," Kurt said, holding the tongue depressor to the guy's mouth. He looked in the back of his throat to see what was going on. His patient started coughing, so Kurt took his stethoscope off from around the back of his neck and listened to his heart and lungs. "It doesn't seem like anything serious. It's probably just a virus," Kurt said, standing up.

"How's the other guy look?"

"I'll write you a prescription for a strong cough medicine," Kurt said, ignoring what the older man said.

"That's it? Thanks, doc," he said sarcastically.

Rachel grabbed a cup of coffee and started walking around trying to find Finn. "For me?" Santana said, laying on a spare hospital bed while she waited for news on her ankle.

"Sorry, hon, it's for Finn," Rachel said, stopping to talk to her friend.

"You still haven't told him?"

"Nope. Still trying. But he knows about the stalker and that's one less thing I have to tell him about."

"That's definitely something."

"Okay," Sam said, coming up to join them. "Here's a week's worth of antibiotics, just to be safe. And x-ray's open now if you want to double check that ankle."

"You might have to carry me," Santana said.

"Not a problem."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I'm outta here."

Santana smiled at Sam when he walked closer to the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist. "You've been working out."

"You feel that tricep? I'm working on that right tri, you know?"

"Looking good to me," Santana said as they started walking.

In the OR room, Brody and Mercedes were explaining what was going to happen to Janine. "So I have no choice?"

"We did everything we could in surgery but the infection is just spreading up your leg," Mercedes explained.

"We need to amputate or you could lose more than just your leg," Brody said.

"But it was just a cut. This is crazy. It was just a cut."

"I'm sorry. I know this is a lot to process in a short period of time," Mercedes said.

"What about Malcolm? Will Malcolm have it? He was down there with me."

"He's okay. We checked him out. It's just bad luck on your part," Brody said.

"Better me than him. I'm really scared. I'm just a single mom. I'll never be able to take care of him with one leg."

Brody moved to her bedside to try and comfort her. "I know it feels like that right now, but that's not true. My little sister was a figure skater. She was amazing and loved being on the ice. But she lost her foot in a car accident when she was 16-years-old. Thought she'd never be able to skate again. But guess where she is today? She's a princess in a Disney on Ice show. It is amazing what they can do with prosthetics. Your life is hardly over because of this."

"Thank you," Janine said, trying to stop crying.

"We're gonna bring you back in and put you under. You ready?"

"Like you said, I have no choice, right?"

The nurses started to wheel her off and Mercedes and Brody stayed behind. "I'm so sorry about your sister," Mercedes said.

Brody chuckled. "My sister lives in Duluth. She's divorced with two kids. She's a blood-sucking attorney. Never skated a day in her life. It's important to try and put patients at ease before a major surgery. It's a nice story and it always works."

Rachel found Finn in the break room, looking up something on the laptops. "I brought you coffee. I figured you'd probably need it." She hesitantly set it down in front of him. "I'm so sorry, Finn. I thought—"

"You're fine, Rach. I should have been there. I wasn't thinking." He shut the top of the laptop screen and looked at her. "You okay?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well last night. For obvious reasons." She pulled out the chair next to him and took one of his hands. "You think we could talk after the shift?"

"Yeah, definitely. We can meet back at my place." Finn's phone started ringing. "I should take this. Thanks for the coffee, Rach." He kissed the top of her head and answered the phone before leaving the room.

Rachel took a deep breath and laid her hand on her stomach again. "Just a little longer, baby," she whispered.

Finn started walking towards Annie's room when he left the break room. "I can put down the first month's rent. She won't be moving in for at least another month, but I just wanted to check if there was availability nearby. Great. Call me back," Finn said, hanging up the phone. He opened the curtain to Annie's room. "Good news, Annie!" He looked up and saw that the hospital bed was empty.

"You have one job here," Finn said a few minutes later when security got to Annie's room. "How can a patient walk right out the front door of the ER?"

"I'm sorry Doctor Hudson. I'll check the video footage immediately."

"I'll call the police and see if they can keep an eye out," Rachel said.

"No, no she can't have gotten very far," Finn said as the elevators opened. "I'm gonna go look for her myself."

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"Can you stay here? In case she comes back?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, giving him a soft smile.

"Hey, Rach? Thank you for trying to take care of her back then. It means a lot," Finn said as the elevator doors shut.

"How much longer until the shift is over?" Naomi asked Jesse when she was sitting behind the nurses' station.

"In about an hour," Jesse said, looking for a patient's test results on the computer. "We can go get some breakfast afterwards."

"You go to breakfast. I'm going to bed."

Kurt's patient from earlier walked up to the desk, still coughing. He felt himself starting to fall and tried to grip onto something on the desk. He couldn't grab anything and fell to the ground. "I need some help here!" Jesse yelled, rushing towards the man. He turned him onto his back and got a stethoscope from one of the nurses.

"I – can't – breathe," the man wheezed.

"I can't hear any breaths on the right side. He has a collapsed lung. Go find a doctor. He needs a chest tube. I'm losing pulse here!"

"Oh my god!" Naomi said from where she was watching.

Jesse jumped over the guy and ran to find something he could use to get the air moving again. Over the PA system, Rachel and Puck were paged.

Jesse felt around on the guy's chest and felt where he needed to insert the needle. He unwrapped it from the covering it was in and stabbed the guy in the chest. He removed the needle and left the cap, making the guy start to breathe again.

"What happened?" Puck asked when he got there.

"He had a pneumo. I released the air."

"Let's get him in a room," Puck said as Rachel got there.

Once they were in a trauma room, she started working on him to reinflate the lung. "Set the pleurovac to 20, please," she said.

"We've got good air movement. Nice catch, Jesse," Puck said.

"Thanks."

"What happened?" Kurt asked, coming into the room.

"Wasn't this your patient?" Puck asked.

"He had a cough."

"Yeah, from a collapsed lung," Rachel said. "Did you get an x-ray or even listen to him?"

"Rachel, you got this?" Puck asked, noticing the look on Kurt's face. She nodded and Puck left the trauma room with Kurt following him. "You see that? Your dad is a total badass," Puck said to Naomi as they passed her.

Puck led Kurt into the break room. "What the hell is going on?"

"Sorry, I missed it."

"It's easy to miss. But you usually catch these things."

"It won't happen again."

"Kurt, I'm talking to you as your friend, not your boss. You can tell me."

"Just having trouble with the Blaine stuff. Burning the candle pretty hard at both ends just trying to forget about it. The guy that was here…I slept with his boyfriend last night. So he was pissed."

"You don't have to tell me the details. But that cannot happen here. This isn't who you are. I mean, not just tonight, but going out and this getting crazy stuff. You're a homebody."

"I know."

"One day, you're going to find a guy. It probably won't be in a bar at four in the morning."

"I just did everything right with Blaine. I cared for him. I was patient. There was nothing else I could have done to make that work, and he still left me. He's gone. He doesn't return my phone calls or my e-mails. It's not fair. This isn't the way this was supposed to work out."

"I'm sorry, man," Puck said. "Now, I can't offer you the love of a good man, but why don't you come over for dinner tonight? Quinn can cook, we can watch the game, you can see the twins. It's been awhile since we've hung out."

"All right. Sounds good," Kurt said.

"Oh, you might want to stop at Whataburger and pick us up some food. Quinn is a really bad cook. But you didn't hear that from me," Puck said as he left the break room.

In the recovery room, Brody was talking to Janine. "You're post-op imaging looks good. Looks like we stopped the infection. Sorry we couldn't save your leg."

"I'm just thankful I'm alive."

Mercedes and Rachel entered the recovery room with Malcolm in his hospital bed. "We thought you might like a roommate," Mercedes said with a smile.

"My baby! He hates when I call him that. How do you feel?" she asked when his bed was next to hers.

"I'm fine. I just…I never want to go camping again," Malcolm said as he started laughing.

"That's a deal."

"Well, you'll be glad to know that he is going to make a full recovery," Rachel said.

"It's the answer to my prayers. Thank you."

In the break room, Jesse and Naomi were sitting down to talk. "You saved that guy's life, didn't you?" Naomi asked her father.

"Right place at the right time, I guess."

"Totally get it now."

"Get what?"

"Why you want to do what you want to do. Seeing you jump in to help that guy, it must make you feel like you can do anything. I'm happy you're not miserable anymore, Dad. You're gonna make a great doctor."

"You think?" Jesse asked.

"Definitely. Totally worth getting peed on."

"I was not peed on," Jesse said. "I spilled a pee sample."

"Have you ever been peed on?"

"Yes. About a million times. By you as a baby," Jesse said, reaching out to poke his daughter's shoulder.

As the shift was winding down, Sam saw Santana as he was leaving the hospital. "Tough break. Looks like a displaced and angulated ankle fracture," Sam said.

"Are you serious?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with you. You're looking good."

"Let me know if you ever need help picking your fantasy team."

"How about now?" Sam asked. "Shift's over, I'm not doing anything. And apparently, I can use some fantasy football tips."

"That is not a lie," Santana said, scooting off the bed. "I am going to teach you about this game."

"Oh really? You know what you're talking about?"

"Where do you wanna eat?" Santana asked as the two of them walked out of the hospital together.

"I want some pancakes. And some grits too."

"Oh dear Lord. What did I sign up for?" Santana asked.

Mercedes walked out to the nurses' station desk and saw the two of them leaving. She frowned slightly and pulled out her phone. She saw she had a new text and smiled when she saw it was from Joey.

I miss you, it said.

Her smile grew wider as she said she missed him too.

She felt someone's arms wrap around her and she looked up to see Kurt. "So, can an asshole buy you breakfast to make up for being a jerk earlier?"

"It better be a pretty good breakfast."

"It is. It's this great little place, 99 cents, all you can eat."

Mercedes wrapped her arms around Kurt. "You had me at asshole."

After the shift, Finn was sitting on the desk at his house that used to hold his computer and his flat screen TV used to be above it. Now they both were gone, along with a lot of Finn's stuff. He heard the door open and looked up to see Rachel coming in. "Well, she took everything," Finn said as Rachel started looking around. "Sorry, Rach. Guess you were right. She cleaned me out."

Rachel dropped her purse on the chair and walked over to where Finn was sitting. "Don't apologize."

"I didn't see it coming, you know? Try to do your best for someone."

Rachel looked down at her feet and took a deep breath. _Now or never, Rach_ she thought to herself. She smiled and kept looking forward. "I'm pregnant." Finn looked over at her and Rachel turned towards him. She saw he had a surprised look on his face and she smiled slightly. "I'm…pregnant." The two of them started laughing and he pulled her closer so he could kiss her.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Best Laid Plans**

Before the shift started, the guys of the night shift were working out together to blow off some steam before the shift starts.

"Alright, Mayweather, where'd you learn to punch like that?" Kurt asked Jesse as they were working on MMA punches together.

"Golden Gloves. From eight to eighteen," Jesse said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"You guys need to come chew some of this iron," Sam said where he was lifting weights. "You need some grown man muscles, not those "Body by Jake cardio-kickboxing" bodies you all have."

"Is that right?" Finn said from where he was running on a treadmill.

"Yeah, that's right. Look, I don't mess with any of that zumba, pilates, spin BS. This is a grown ass man workout. And for real, I'm gonna start charging you all for this. People should have to pay to see this," Sam said, gesturing to his abs.

"You know, I think you're right," Finn said.

"Thank you," Sam said. The smile on his face quickly faded as Finn, Jesse, Kurt and Artie piled on top of him.

Outside in the lobby, Rachel and Santana had just arrived and were talking before Santana would get called out on a run. "Have you told Finn you want to move?"

"Yeah. But you know Finn, I mean, he's not a real planner, he's more go with flow."

The two of them stopped walking when they heard cheers coming from one of the break rooms and shared a look with each other. They had to know what was going on in there.

Rachel opened the door to reveal Sam, trying to cover himself with a chair as Artie held onto his shorts.

"Ladies, ladies," Finn said, pulling some money out of his shorts pockets. "Sam says we have to pay to display so this one's on me." Finn started tossing some of the money towards Sam as Artie taunted him with his shorts.

"Give me my shorts," Sam said through gritted teeth.

"What, you mean these?" Artie asked, looking down at the shorts in his hands.

"I swear to god, I will kill you," Sam said as Artie started swinging them around in the air.

Puck held up his phone and started taking pictures to commemorate the moment. "Finn, strike a pose," Puck said, continuing to take pictures. He turned to face Rachel and Santana. "If HR asks, I was not here."

"Not a word," Rachel said. She turned her attention to Santana. "So, uh, you wanna take a closer look?"

Santana shrugged. "I'm good. Nothing I haven't seen."

Rachel's eyes widened as she bumped hips with her best friend. "Oh, you naughty girl."

"I didn't mean to. It just got heated and I hadn't had any in like a year so…" Santana trailed off as they watched Sam try to get his shorts back. "I really wish I hadn't because I don't want him to see me as just a hook up, you know?"

"Oh come on, you know it's not…oh, hey Mercedes," Rachel said, turning around to see Mercedes come into the room.

"Hey Rachel. Santana," Mercedes said, pushing her way past people.

"You think she heard that?" Rachel asked.

"I'm so glad everyone's having a good time," Sam said.

"Hey, guys," Molly said, coming into the room. "Shift starts in five minutes and we already have incoming. Come on, let's go."

There were some grumblings all around as people started filing out of the break room and into the lobby. Artie tossed Sam's shorts to Finn. "Gimme, gimme the shorts," Sam said, reaching over the chair to try and get them.

Finn held the shorts at arm's length as he started walking out of the room. He dropped them a few feet away from where Sam was standing.

"What's your name, sir?" Rachel asked, receiving the first trauma of the night.

"Christian Boone. Just call me Boone. I'm just having a little trouble breathing."

"All right. Well, we're gonna take good care of you. Can you hop on over here?" Rachel asked, rolling the gurney right next to the hospital bed as Finn helped him get onto the hospital bed. "Are you having any chest pain?"

"Yeah, a little."

"Well, we'll run a few tests and see what's going on with you," Rachel said, taking the stethoscope off from around her neck. "Molly, can we get a blood panel, CBC and an EKG?"

Out at the nurses' station, Jesse was coming up to Puck, who was looking at something on his phone.  
"You gonna post those photos?" Jesse asked.

"You know I am," Puck said, unable to hold back his laughter. "I love this phone. It takes amazing pictures. I got Beth the same one as a reward for getting straight A's last semester."

"Lucky you," Jesse said dejectedly. "My son's favorite subjects are lunch and recess. I don't see a scholarship in our future. Or a phone in his."

"Puck?" Jocelyn said. "You've got a call."

"Yeah. Jesse, you need parenting advice, you know where to find me," Puck said before walking over to the phone on the desk. "Father of the year. Thanks, Jocelyn," Puck said, taking the phone from her.

"Secret texts from your girlfriend?" Mercedes asked Artie, coming up to meet him outside of the break room.

"Oh, nothing like that. It's the father of my patient that just passed – Oren."

"I'm so sorry. That was the radiation guy, right? He was so sweet."

"Yeah," Artie said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Anyways, that's part of the job, right? Have to move on."

"Still doesn't make it any easier. So, are you ready for your surgical rotation?"

"Yeah, I've been studying hard," Artie said, scratching his forehead. "I have to keep up the family name, or so my dad says."

"Brody said your dad's already called three times to find out what you're doing."

"Yeah, and it'll be 20 before the week's over."

"Well, good luck following the last surgical intern. I hear she pretty much killed it."

"Oh, you mean the one that made out with her attending, right?" Artie said.

"Okay. When is that going to die?" Mercedes called after him.

Puck hung up the phone and turned to face his co-workers who were milling around the lobby area. "Attention everybody! I just got off the phone with dispatch. We have a building collapse downtown. We're going to be the major receiving."

"Estimated number of casualties?" Finn asked, coming out of the exam room.

"Up to 50," Puck said. "They're requesting that ER personnel get triage up and running on site."

"I'm on it," Finn said. "Kurt you're with me," Finn said, catching the backpack of emergency equipment and jacket from Sam.

"If anyone wants a ride, train leaves now," Santana said.

In the exam room, Rachel was looking at Boones' EKG. "Okay, Boone. The good news is it's not an acute heart attack. But here's the thing…"

"There's always a thing," Boone said.

"There could be some underlying heart disease. And I'm concerned about your symptoms. You fainted so we need to find out why. Have you been under any stress lately?"

Boone scoffed. "Who _isn't_ under stress these days?"

"True. I want to keep you here overnight for observation. Better to be safe than sorry," Rachel said.

"Doctor, sorry to interrupt," Molly said, coming into the room. "But there's been an explosion in Southtown. It's a mass casualty."

"Southtown? That's where my diner is," Bonne said. "I have to go; my goddaughter works there."

"You have to stay here to rest," Rachel said, trying to calm him down before he had another fainting spell.

"No, I have to get out of here. I have to find out if she's okay."

"Sir, you couldn't get downtown if you tried," Molly said. "It's been zoned off. Just relax."

"I have to call her."

"Of course, we understand," Rachel said, looking over at Molly. "Look, if you start to feel funny, tell Nurse Molly and I'll come back and check on you." Rachel smiled at Boone and left the exam room to find out what was going on with the influx of patients the hospital was about to have. "Puck, what's going on?"

"I've talked to all departments. We've activated disaster protocol. Brody and Artie are prepping all the ORs."

"I pulled the disaster kits," Mercedes said, coming up to talk with Rachel and Puck.

"Great. Triage everyone. Red tag is critical, yellow is urgent, green is walking wounded and black is DOA," Rachel instructed.

"Got it," Mercedes said, taking off.

"Sam, how's the waiting room looking?" Puck asked as Rachel took off to help Mercedes.

"Cleared and ready for the walking wounded."

"I grabbed all the O-neg I could get my hands on," Jesse said, coming back with coolers of blood in his hands.

"We're gonna need more than that," Puck said. "Everybody, be on your toes. It's gonna be messy." He turned his attention to Jocelyn on the phones. "Joce, you get a hold of Finn yet?"

"He just arrived on site," Jocelyn said, handing him the phone.

"Finn, I need to hear something good."

"If I did, I'd be lying to you, brother," Finn said as he started getting ready to triage the victims.

"How bad are we talking?"

"It's gonna be a long night," Finn said, hanging up the phone to go assist with triage.

"Let's roll him on three," Finn said in reference to one of the victims. "One, two, three. Rigid abdomen, BP is 90 systolic, pulse 120. I'm worried about a hot belly."

"I saw him. He saved me," the patient said.

"Who saved you, sir?"

"My guardian angel. He's as big as an ox. He saved me. He pulled me from death."

"I hear you," Finn said. He looked at one of the paramedics. "Let's get him out of here. It's an intra-abdominal bleed. Red tag him for a straight shot to the OR." He got up from where he was with the patient and moved over to where Santana was. "San, what's going on here?"

"Male in his 20s. 14 centimeter full thickness laceration to his left forearm. He's lost a lot of blood. Someone used a belt as a tourniquet."

"You didn't do that?" Finn asked, looking at the belt buckle.

"Wasn't me. It'll probably save his life, though. Take a look at his forehead. I think there's a cross there or something."

"It's not a cross, it's a T. Writing a T in a patient's blood is military shorthand for a tourniquet. There's a medic out here somewhere," Finn said as he started looking around.

"Finn!" Kurt called.

"Go on, I got this," Santana said.

"I got a closed mid-shaft tibia fracture," Kurt said as Finn ran over. "I started two large-bore IVs of LR wide open, going to titrate morphine for pain of three."

"Nice splint, Kurt," Finn said, looking at it when he got over there.

"It was on him when I got here. Someone's getting to the injuries faster than we are."

Finn looked out and saw someone helping one of the victims. "I think I have a good idea who that might be," Finn said, nodding in the direction of someone. "Guy with the hat."

Back at the hospital, it was quickly filling up with patients. Rachel finished working on someone and turned her attention to Jocelyn. "Let's get a dressing on this, okay?" She walked off and took off her trauma gown and gloves before tossing them out.

"How many suture packs have you gone through tonight?" Puck asked.

"I stopped counting at 50. At this pace, we're gonna run out of those and blood."

"I've got Jesse starting a blood bank. I'll have him start replenishing supplies too."

"I have right red tags and thirteen yellow," Mercedes said. "We've had two dozen DOAs. All surgery teams upstairs are working but every department is getting buried. Lots of families with missing people."

"Sam, we need you to run point and get an accurate count of the missing," Rachel said as he passed by. She turned back to Puck. "I'm gonna check on my heart patient. Page me for the next trauma."

Puck nodded and saw another trauma coming in. "I got this one, guys," he said to the paramedics.

"Did you hear about my guardian angel?" the patient asked. "He carried me out."

"I'm gonna have to wait for the movie, sir," Puck said. He looked at the triage tag and saw Artie waiting in the hallways. "Hey, I have your next surgery."

"Artie!" someone called from behind Puck. Puck and Artie turned around to see someone in a suit walking towards them.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Artie asked.

"Hello, Artie."

"I told you not to come. This is my first night of surgery," Artie said.

"Nonsense. That's exactly why I did come. You really think I'd miss your first night?"

"Doctor Abrams, huge honor. I'm Doctor Puckerman, Artie's attending and night shift chief."

"Of course," Artie's dad said, shaking Puck's hand. "I was in Austin giving a lecture and decided I'd swing by."

"And on any other night, we would roll out the red carpet for you. But as you can see—"

"Oh, I understand. I'll just make myself busy down here. Artie," he said as Artie got in the elevator to take his patient up to surgery. "I'll talk to you later. Don't let me down."

Back at the explosion sight, Finn was directing more people to help with triage. "He's good. I already checked him. Just separate the IV on the way in." The paramedics laid down another victim in front of Finn and Kurt so he could get checked out. "Thanks guys, I've got it from here," Finn said. He looked to his left and saw the guy from earlier working on another victim. "What's going on there?"

"Just wrapping a broken wrist."

"What's your name?" Finn asked.

"Bennett. James Bennett. I was nearby and heard an explosion so I came over to see what happened."

"So you pulled an old man out of the rubble? Put a tourniquet on an arm?"

"Splinted another man's leg," Kurt added from where he was next to Finn.

"Oh man. I'm sorry if I overstepped," Bennett said, taking his hat off to run a hand through his hair. "I was just trying to help out."

"Don't apologize. Army medic, right?" Kurt asked.

"Yes sir. Two tours in Afghanistan."

"Then it looks like it's our lucky night," Kurt said.

"You're an off-duty paramedic?" Finn asked.

"I'm not a paramedic. I wish I was though. I just can't get on any of the crews."

"How long have you been trying?" Kurt asked.

"More than a year. They said I had to take an EMT course but that's ten grand for a cheap one. And I don't have that kind of money."

"They won't transfer over your medic service?" Finn asked. "A guy like you would be an asset to them. You've done this stuff under fire."

"They said I had to start over. I don't mind, I'll do whatever it takes. I just don't have the cash."

"Hey doc, we got another one!" one of the paramedics said.

"Bennett, your service counts with us, okay?" Finn said. "We're a little shorthanded tonight. Do you mind sticking around and helping out?"

"Of course. Anything to help."

"Okay, Bennett. See all those green tags over there?" Kurt asked. "Start treating the walking wounded."

Finn ran over to the next victim that the paramedics found. "Okay, there's a battle's sign and anisocoria. We need to red-tag her to the ER. Bring her to Santana and tell Santana to take her straight to Rachel. There's a possible TBI with a basilar skull fracture."

Back at the hospital, Rachel had finished listening to Boone's heart. "You're still a bit tachycardic."

"My goddaughter still hasn't answered her phone."

"I'm sure she's fine. But you do need to try and relax as much as possible. I'll be back soon to check on you," Rachel said. She left the exam room and started taking off her gloves, stopping when she saw Artie's dad working on patients.

"So, if you're wondering, 'Is that world-renowned neurosurgeon Doctor Julian Abrams working triage in my ER' your eyes do not deceive you," Puck said, coming up beside Rachel.

"Did he really come here to watch Artie on his first night of surgery? Talk about putting pressure on the kid."

"Yeah, but on a night like this, I'll take all the help we can get."

Up in the OR, Brody and Artie were doing surgery on their patient. "This gentleman kept talking about his guardian angel before we put him under. I'm starting to think he might just actually have one," Brody said. "Now, I'm removing the perforated ischemic intestine. Artie, tie off the blood vessel for me."

Artie nodded and grabbed the suture silk. He started tying off the blood vessel as Brody watched with an impressed look on his face. "One handed? I'll have to tell your dad about that. I'm assuming he's the one who taught you."

"Well, some dads teach their sons to play catch. Others teach their sons to tie surgical knots. Guess which one I had?" Artie said, focusing on finishing up tying the blood vessel.

"Incoming!" Santana yelled. "Rachel? Female, 20s, red-tag head trauma," she said, wheeling in the patient that Finn wanted Rachel to take care of. "Finn said possible traumatic brain injury and basilar skull fracture. She's been in and out of consciousness on the ride over," Santana said as they went into a trauma room.

"What's your name, sweetie?" Rachel asked.

"Alex," the girl said weakly.

"Okay, Alex. I need you to stay with me."

"That's her!" Boone said, trying to get into the trauma room. "That's my goddaughter, oh my god."

"Sir, you can't be in here," Santana said, trying to keep him from going into the trauma room.

"It's okay!" Rachel said. "He's my patient. He can talk to her for a minute from there. On three, we're going to move her. One, two, three."

"Uncle Boone?" Alex said from her bed. "Is that you?"

"It's me, sweetie. I'm here for you."

Rachel heard her machines start beeping. "Her BP is falling. I need a chem panel and CBC, crossed and typed."

"I was so worried about you," Alex said to her godfather. "Oh god. Oh god, where are you? What's happening?"

"Alex? Alex, talk to me. What's going on?" Rachel asked her.

"I can't – I can't see anything. I can't see!" Alex said as she started panicking.

"Alex!" Boone said as he came into the trauma room. Santana went over to try and stop him and get him out of the trauma room so Rachel and the nurses could have space to work on Alex.

"Okay, Alex, we're going to figure out what's going on," Rachel said once things died down a little in her trauma room. "Sam here is going to take you to CT, alright?"

"I am right here, Alex. I'm gonna be with you the whole way. Just say my name if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay," Alex said. "Uncle Boone, are you there?"

"I'm right here, baby."

"I'm scared."

"You let them take you, okay?" Boone said, trying to comfort Alex. "They're gonna take good care of you."

"Priority her to CT scan," Rachel whispered. "There could be bleeding in her occipital lobe."

"Front of the line we go," Sam said as he started wheeling her out.

"I've got no pulse!" Bennett yelled as they were out on the scene. He ripped open a guy's shirt and slammed his fist down on the victim's chest.

Finn and Kurt ran over and Finn checked for a pulse. "He's got one now."

"Well, I thought he had a pacemaker, so I did a pericardial thump."

"Good call," Finn said. "Okay. 50s, male, red-tag him to the ER."

"If you can't be a paramedic, you should be a doctor," Kurt said.

"Thanks, but I'll stay with the action," Bennett said. "I gotta be the first guy to help people. It's the one thing I'm really good at."

"Well, if you've got one skill, that's a damn good one to have," Finn said.

"Yellow tag, Doc!" one of the paramedics called.

"You got this?" Finn asked Kurt.

Kurt nodded and Finn ran off. "The adrenaline's hard to replace, huh?" Kurt said, trying to make conversation. "I was a medic in Iraq. Don't know what I'd be doing if I wasn't a doctor."

"Jeez, how'd you go from being a field medic to a doc?" Bennett asked.

"Somewhere along the way, I just caught a lucky break."

"You're like a walking Army commercial," Bennett said as he started laughing. "They make it seem like you serve and you're set for life. I still wouldn't trade it for anything, though."

At the hospital, Artie came out from his surgery and took a deep breath. _He did it_.

His dad looked up from the patient he was working on and stopped Artie from walking away. "Please tell me it's not like this every night at the hospital."

"Well, no. A mass casualty is actually pretty rare."

"No, I'm talking about the quality of facilities, the protocol, the inefficiencies…"

"Look, can we talk later? I need to get this patient to surgery," Artie said, getting ready to take another victim up for surgery.

"Artie, look, this is simple triage. You want the most critical patient. _This_ is your patient," Julian said, gesturing to the patient he was working on.

"Look, I'm just trying to follow Doctor Weston's orders."

"Then Doctor Weston is wrong."

Brody stepped off the elevator and saw Artie talking with his father. "Artie, what's the hold up? I need my patient up in surgery."

"Right. My father and I are having a minor difference in opinion as to who we should bring up to surgery."

"You have got to be kidding me. Doctor Abrams, I'm Doctor Weston," Brody said, reaching out to shake Julian's hand.

"This patient is your next surgery," Julian said. "She was incorrectly yellow'ed. Her crush injury is now presenting as an extended abdomen." He started pressing down on the patient's stomach to prove his point. "Consider a ruptured discus or hemoperitoneum."

Brody did the same actions as Julian and sighed. "He's right. Artie, let's prep this patient for surgery. Thank you for your input, Doctor Abrams."

"I would love to observe. How about I sit in on this one?"

Brody's eyes narrowed. "You know, it's Artie's first night in surgery, so I don't think it's…" Brody trailed off when he saw Artie shaking his head. "Scrubs are right in there," he said, pointing to the scrubs room.

"Fantastic," Julian said as he took off towards the scrubs room.

"You didn't have to say yes," Brody said as they started to wheel the patient to the OR floor.

"Yeah I did. He's relentless. He would have found his way to the OR eventually."

At the nurses' station, Sam was waiting for the CT results from Alex's tests. "Hey, you. Crazy night, right?" Mercedes said, passing him.

"Yeah, one for the books," he said, not taking his eyes off the tablet screen.

"Is Alex done with her scan?" Mercedes asked, trying to make conversation.

"She'll be back in five."

The two of them looked at each other in awkward silence for a few minutes. "Is this how it's gonna be between us now?"

Sam took a deep breath. "I've got work to do and I'm sure you do too."

"Hey, Jesse. Walk with me," Puck said. "How are we doing on blood?"

"Good. We just got a new shipment in from the blood drive and it should take us through the night," Jesse said as Puck's phone started going off.

"Great. Brody and Artie just freed up some beds so let's get them up there ASAP," Puck said, taking out his phone.

"You a fan of Grumpy Cat?" Jesse asked, seeing a video pop up on his screen. "Makes me laugh every time."

"No, it's…when my daughter and I got our new phones, we somehow got stuck sharing the same Cloud, so now I'm getting her texts every five seconds. I need to ask them to disconnect—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jesse said, cutting him off. "Hold on a second. Sharing that Cloud gives you complete insight into her world. It's like a gift from the gods. You can make sure she's not doing anything…you know…unsavory." Puck and Jesse shared an awkward silence. "Anyway. I'm heading to the ICU."

Rachel walked into Alex's recovery room once her test results came back. "Doc, thank god. Her vision came back," Boone said.

"I thought it would be good if he hung out with Alex and keep her calm," Mercedes said.

"That's a great idea. I just need to get in there and take a look," Rachel said, holding a little flashlight up to her eyes. "Do you have any blurriness?"

"Just a little. I thought my painting career was over before it started."

"I can imagine. Luckily, your CT came back and there's no acute bleeding but we're still going to have ophthalmology and neurology take a look. How are you feeling?"

"Aside from the bumps and bruises, I feel okay. Have they figured out why the building blew up?"

"Alex, you need to rest," Boone said. "Let the doctor go do her job."

"That's okay," Mercedes said. "Early reports are saying it's a gas line leak."

"Oh god," Alex said, leaning back against the pillow.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked.

"I was working late at the diner and I can't remember if I turned off the pilot light."

"Alex, it's not your fault, honey," Boone said, trying to keep her calm. "It couldn't be."

"Does someone want to catch me up here?" Rachel asked, looking between Boone and Alex.

"My diner is on the ground level of the same building that was damaged," Boone explained. "When we close up in the evening, it's Alex's job to turn off the pilot light on the stove and the water heater."

"And I couldn't remember if I did so I got dressed and headed back to the diner to check. But just as I went inside—"

"Alex, I'm sure your uncle is right. I mean, have you ever forgotten before?" Rachel asked.

"No, it's just that…I can't remember." She started shaking slightly and her machines started beeping faster.

"BP is 220 systolic," Rachel said.

"What does that mean?" Boone asked as Mercedes pushed past him.

"Right hand has paralysis. Start a nitro-drip, she's having a stroke!" Rachel said.

"Boone, I need you to try and breathe like me," Mercedes said as Boone started hyperventilating. He collapsed to the ground. "There's no pulse!"

"His heart is failing. Grab a crash cart," Rachel said.

Back at the building fire, things were starting to slow down. "The last of the red and yellow tags have been moved to the ER," one of the paramedics said. "We have a few green tags but I think everyone's been treated."

"Okay, great. Let's pack it up," Finn said. "Where's Santana and Kurt?"

"They were doing last looks with Bennett," he responded as they heard a huge explosion from behind them. They ducked down to the ground and saw the building go up in flames.

Once the building was cleared for entry and Santana and Kurt were out safely, Finn and the two of them went back into the building to find Bennett. "Okay, we need to find the big Army medic. Kurt, are you sure you saw him come in here?"

"A guy that size is kind of hard to miss," Kurt responded. "I saw him run into the building after the second explosion."

The three of them heard a loud crash. "That's not good," Santana said from where she's standing.

"I'm not leaving until I find him," Finn said. "Bennett!" Finn said, calling for him.

"Over here!" Santana called, seeing him laying down under a pile of rubble. "Bennett, we're here."

"We need to get this stuff off him," Kurt said.

"Watch out," Finn said. "We need to be careful. Kurt, support his torso and I'll pull him out on three. One—"

"Finn, wait. His arm's been severed," Kurt said.

"Son of a bitch," Finn muttered under his breath. "We have to move him now."

In the OR, Brody and Artie were working on their patient as Julian was watching. "I'm now going to reduce the compartment pressure. 10-blade to our intern," Brody said.

"Seriously?" Artie said.

"If you never do it, you'll never learn," Brody said. "You're up."

"You mean the 11-blade, right, Doctor Weston?" Julian asked.

"Well, I said 10 and I meant 10. We all have our preferences."

"This isn't a preference. There's a right way and a wrong way. 11 gives you a more precise cut and less tissue loss."

"That's what an 11-blade does but we don't have time to be cute or fancy. This is a fasciotomy to reduce the compartment pressure. This isn't neurosurgery."

"That's for sure," Julian muttered under his breath.

"10-blade to our intern, please," Brody repeated.

"Artie," Julian started. "Use the 11-blade."

"Doctor Abrams, I understand that you are used to running the show, but you are in my OR and I cannot have you compromising my team," Brody said. "You will either have to let us do our work or step out."

"Fine, I'll step out. It just drives me crazy to see things done the wrong way."

Brody sighed. "You've had to put up with that your whole life?"

"I came out here to get out from under his shadow. I guess Texas wasn't far enough."

"James Bennett, 23, building collapse caused transial amputation to the left arm. Hypotensive and tachycardic," Finn said when they arrived at the hospital. "Molly, prep this arm for reattachment."

"My hand's burning, just give me something for it and I'll be okay," Bennett said.

"Take it easy, Bennett," Finn said before he started calling off the medications he wanted for Bennett. "I also need two units of O-neg and set up for a central line."

Bennett started moving around and smacked Santana's jaw by mistake. "I'm going back out there. You can shoot me if you have to."

"No one's going to shoot you," Kurt said as he injected Bennett with morphine. "We're going to take care of you and you're going to be okay."

"Jocelyn, can you call up to surgery and make sure there's an OR ready for an arm reattachment? And can you do it now, please?" Finn asked.

"You okay?" Kurt asked Santana. "You took quite a shot."

"I'm good. I've been hit harder than that before. On three. One, two, three," Santana said as they moved him from the gurney to the hospital bed.

Outside of Boone's room, Rachel was filling in Puck and Mercedes about what was going on. "He's in heart failure. There's fluids in his lungs."

"Did we miss a heart attack?" Mercedes asked.

"No, we didn't miss it. It's more complicated than that."

"Maybe it's an echo cardiogram," Puck suggested.

Molly came up to them with a tablet to show them Alex's brain scans and to tell them what medicine she was on. "Look at this," Puck said, zooming in on a part of the scan. "Things just got more complicated for Alex."

"That's definitely not good," Rachel said. "Mercedes, stay here and watch Boone. I'll be upstairs getting a surgical consult."

Rachel got up to the OR floor and started listing off what was wrong with Alex to Brody. "She has a carotid dissection that is sending blood clots to her brain."

"Well, that would explain the loss of vision and then the stroke," Brody said as he started to wash his hands.

"Exactly. And in a few hours, the damage from the stroke will be permanent and a large section of her brain will die," Rachel said. "But, there is a Hail Mary."

"Yeah, mechanically. We can remove clots from the brain using a catheter. But we'll be hard-pressed getting an interventionalist to the hospital this late at night."

"Yeah, well, the thing is we already have one."

"Artie's dad," Brody said, feeling his shoulders slump.

"I've already called the hospital for privileges and they're sending over authorization paperwork now. I want you to ask him. I figured he'd respect you more. You know, surgeon to surgeon."

Brody grabbed paper towels from the dispenser and ripped them off. "Yeah."

"Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate it," Rachel said, turning on her heel to leave the scrub room.

Puck, Finn and Kurt were walking the ER halls to get Puck's permission on working on Bennett themselves. "Limb reattachment in the ER? I don't know. What's the wait on surgery and vascular?"

"Backed up for hours," Kurt said.

"And Bennett doesn't have hours," Finn said. "He'll lose the arm. I don't know his full story but he hasn't had it easy since post-deployment."

"Puck, you gotta let us try," Kurt said, "He's a soldier, he's one of us. He's out there saving people."

"I get what you're saying and what's at stake. I want you guys to do it, but if we get swamped again, I can't have you two siphoned off for the rest of the night while people die," Puck said. "Molly, how are we looking on mass casualty admittances?"

"Haven't had one in awhile. They say the area is all clear."

"See, there you go," Finn said.

"Fine go ahead. But if we get busy again, I'm pulling you off," Puck said. "We can't trade a life for an arm."

Back in Boone's trauma room, Rachel and Mercedes were trying to figure out what was going on with him. "Was it a heart attack?"

"No," Rachel sighed.

"Then how did his heart get so dilated?"

"He mentioned that he was under a lot of pressure earlier this evening. It could be the severe stressor that weakened his heart that's causing dilation. Check and see if it's cardio-myopathy."

"Broken heart syndrome?"

"It's what it looks like," Rachel said, wiping the ultrasound gel off his chest. "He's going to need a heart transplant or at the very least, an LVAD. I'll let him know what his options are when he wakes up, but for now, we should keep an eye on Alex's surgery. He'll want to know how she's doing."

In a corridor, Brody and Artie were talking to Julian about performing Alex's surgery. "And we've just received hospital privileges for you to perform the surgery," Brody finished explaining.

"Of course you did," Julian said. "So, Doctor Weston, you'll allow me to use your OR? And perhaps an 11-blade?"

Brody tried to suppress the grimace that was bound to be forming on his face. "Look, I'm sorry if you felt that I was—"

"Tactless, disrespectful, rude—"

"Dad!" Artie said. "You're the only one capable of the procedure that will save her life. So please just do it."

"Fine. I'll perform the procedure. Under two conditions. One, Doctor Weston, you stay out of my OR. And two, I need Artie to assist me."

"It's his first night on surgery."

"Artie, scrub in," Julian said. "Then we can finally have that talk you've been avoiding."

In the OR, Julian was showing Artie how to do the surgery. "Now we are steering the catheter up to the blood clot in her brain, opening the basket, and grabbing the clot," Julian said, keeping his eyes on the screen to make sure nothing would go wrong. "Watch this, Artie." Julian picked up a larger needle and pushed it. "And just like that…no more clot."

"That's really cool," Artie said from where he was watching.

"Really? You think your old man's cool?"

"I've always thought that."

"I find that hard to believe," Julian said, turning around to look at Artie. "You could have gone to my alma mater, or my med school or joined our practice after your residency."

"I said I admired you. I didn't say I wanted to be you. Can we do this later? Please?"

"Well, this is the only time I get to see you. Every time I call you, you're either too tired or too busy or whatever else you make up to get me off the phone. So, let's talk about what it's going to take for you to accept the surgical residency at Johns Hopkins. It's time for you to go big or go home."

In Bennett's trauma room, Kurt and Finn were trading stories to try and help pass the time. "So, what was your lucky break?" Kurt asked.

"That's a long story," Finn said.

"We're reattaching an arm. We've got time."

"Touché. You ever drive a '64 GTO?"

"No. Is that the car you had growing up?"

"Oh hell no. I was broke. But Thad and I, we drove one this one time. Man, driving that car was a real come to Jesus moment."

"Wait, you and your brother…stole the car?"

"No. Well…we were going to return it. We used to go down to Camden Yards and borrow cars during games. We got about five blocks before we got busted. On the morning of the hearing, we were on our way to the courthouse and the energy felt wrong. So we look around and everyone's eyes are on the TVs."

"What was going on? What was on it?"

"Well, we got there just in time to see the second plane crash into the World Trade Center. So we just sat there and we watched and made all the crap we were doing seem so childish. So we went up to the judge and we said 'Hey. If you let us off, we will go straight down to the recruiting office and sign up for the Army and go kick some serious ass for the USA.'"

"That's some break."

"Yeah, I told you," Finn said. "I was sitting there with a serious come to Jesus moment. And the Army put me through med school. Without that, who knows where I'd be."

"Probably in prison. Being traded for a pack of cigarettes."

"Hey, I'm at least worth a carton," Finn said.

"Whatever you say, Doc," Kurt said as they kept working on Bennett's arm.

In the scrub room, Artie was washing up after the surgery with his dad. "I can't give you a decision."

"Well, you're going to have to. They're not going to hold that residency for you forever."

"I didn't ask you to get me one," Artie said angrily. "And if I wanted one, I would have gotten it for myself."

"Maybe. It's very competitive. People would have killed for this opportunity. But you didn't even try. And that tells me that you're afraid."

"I wasn't afraid, okay? I didn't want to go there."

"Well, son, sometimes a father can see what's best for his child even if they can't," Julian said as the door opened and Brody stepped in.

"Just checking in to see how Alex's procedure went," Brody said, noticing he walked in at a tense time.

"How do you think it went, Artie. We'll talk about this later. I need to make sure your staff can properly take care of my patient." Julian left the scrub room and Brody turned to face Artie.

"Come on. Let's talk a walk," Brody said.

In the corridor, Puck saw Santana walking towards him. "Please tell me we're done, Santana."

"We've been given the all clear. No more casualties heading this way," Santana said as she kept walking.

"Finally," Jesse said, overhearing the conversation.

"It's been one hell of a night," Puck said. "Oh, Jesse. You were right about your advice with my daughter's phone. Check this out," he said, extending the phone so Jesse could see the screen. "I mean, don't check it out. But look."

"Whoa. That is a very skimpy bathing suit."

"I didn't even know she had that. I did not get her that phone to be sexting. I thought she was a nerd. I mean, I want her to be a nerd," Puck said as the phone beeped again.

"Kids are what they are, you know?" Jesse said, getting a cup of coffee.

"Holy…she just said that I'm working all night and he won't know if we hook up. She…she is grounded forever. That text is going to be her last on that phone."

"Wait," Jesse said as Puck started walking away. "Hold on. Keep your cool. Don't blow your cover."

"Blow my cover? This isn't _The Departed_. This is my daughter we're talking about."

"Look, when the Brits cracked the Nazi code in World War II, they waited to get more information."

"I don't care about that. Some punk named SexyMan916 is sexting with my daughter."

"Okay. Blow your cover. Then you'll never know what she's up to again. Listen to me. You have Quinn. Make sure she's in on this and you track this. You don't know what else she's up to."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Puck said.

"Yeah, well. You'll get used to it. I wish I had something like that to know what Naomi's doing. Trust me, they grow up really fast." Jesse left the break room.

"I hate technology," Puck muttered before pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Rachel walked out from behind the nurses' station with a lot on her mind. She hadn't been sleeping well the last few nights – given she'd found out about her stalker then found out about the baby. She was hoping to break away for a little peace and quiet before things started to pick up pace again. She looked at her watch and smiled to herself.

Finn saw her and ran after her. "Hey," he said, reaching out to take one of her hands.

"Hey babe. Haven't seen you all night." She stopped walking and leaned against the wall. "So, limb attachment in the ER. Pretty exciting stuff."

"Yeah. Just waiting for it to pink up and see if it worked. So, how you feeling, Momma?" Finn asked, eyes moving down to Rachel's stomach. "You didn't get any sleep this afternoon."

"I know. That's because every time I closed my eyes, there were a million questions just running through my head."

Finn reached out and took Rachel's head in his hands. "You need to relax."

"I know. I'm trying. But…okay. Which OB are we going with? Where are we going to live once the baby gets here? And who's going to take care of the baby when we're both working a shift here?" Rachel asked.

"Got it. Doctor Newton, my apartment, Puck will schedule us on different shifts. I'm a genius. Problem solved. Thank you," Finn said.

Rachel raised her eyebrow. "Well, okay. But I'd prefer Doctor Zully over Doctor Newton, your apartment is way too small and we will never see each other if we work separate shifts."

"Well, when you put it like that…" Finn said, leaning in to kiss her.

"Rachel," Mercedes said, coming up. "I need you to talk to Boone. He's freaking out."

"Okay. I'll be right there." She turned back to Finn and ran her hands over his cheeks. "Thank god you're cute."

In another part of the hospital, Brody and Artie were having a talk. "I have seen hundreds of surgical residents and ER interns do their rotations and I can tell you after one day, you're in the top five," Brody said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. So I get why you're father pushes you as hard as he does. I'm sure you are a really good ER doc. But you could be an amazing surgeon. It's like when Jordan left the Bulls to go play baseball. It just felt like such a waste."

"It was his first love. He was following his heart."

"Okay. So what's in your heart? ER medicine?"

Artie thought for a minute. "No."

"Then what is? Because if you are just rebelling against your father, then you're cutting your nose off despite your face. If you want to be a surgeon, be one."

Rachel got to Boone's room and was sitting and talking to him. "Boone, you do understand that if you refuse the medical advice I'm giving you, your chance of survival is close to zero."

"Yes, I understand. Yes I want to die."

"Where is this coming from?" Rachel asked, trying to understand. "What about Alex? She's going to need you more now than ever. I realize that a heart transplant is a scary proposal—"

"It's not that. The heart should go to someone else."

"Why would you—"

"Because I caused that explosion that made the building collapse," Boone said as Rachel's eyes widened.

"I can't believe it," Puck said when Rachel told him what happened.

"What's going on?" Finn asked, coming behind the nurses' station to talk with Puck and Rachel.

"Our first patient of the shift, Boone. The whole mass casualty was his fault," Puck said.

"He just confessed to me that he was going bankrupt so he intentionally set fire to his diner to collect the insurance money," Rachel said. "He thought it was contained. And now he may have injured or killed all those people, not to mention his goddaughter."

"Has he been read his rights?" Finn asked.

"Police are on their way but for now he's our patient and we just have to keep him alive."

"Except he's refusing medical treatment," Puck said. "He just wants to die."

"I don't think he's going to get off that lucky."

"He's devastated about what he did," Rachel said. "Especially how it's going to affect Alex. He can't even face her. I'm going to have to tell her before the police get here."

"Good luck," Puck said as Finn laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Oh yeah. Good times," Rachel said sarcastically as she walked off.

In Bennett's room, his arm pinked up and he was awake and talking. "So they're taking this thing off? I was just starting to like it. It's kind of a cool look," Bennett said, making Finn and Kurt start laughing.

"Well, with some time to heal and a good amount of physical therapy, you're going to be ready to work," Kurt said.

"Work? That's really funny, Doc."

"Well, actually, we did some digging at the VA. They have a program that credits Army medics for their service and gets guys like you jobs in VA emergency centers," Finn said.

"It's called an intermediate care technician," Kurt said. "You train as you get paid and thirteen months you'll be fully certified for any hospital in the country."

"I had no idea about the VA stuff," Bennett said with a smile.

"Well, they do some good things there. Don't paint them all bad," Finn said. "So, there's a slot waiting for you. You start class in a couple of weeks and you earn while you learn."

"I can't believe I'm gonna be a big baby about this," Bennett said, tears coming to his eyes. "Um, nobody's ever – uh – why are you guys doing this for me? I'm a nobody."

"You're not a nobody," Kurt said. "Everybody needs a break and this one's yours."

"Yeah, so don't screw it up," Finn said with a slight wink. "Let's get the surgery team to finish you up." The two of them started wheeling Bennett out when they stopped when they almost hit another bed.

"That's him!" a patient said. "That's my guardian angel."

"That's one nice sized angel," Molly said. "Glad you got your wing fixed."

In Alex's room, Rachel had just finished telling her what was happening. "He was my only family," Alex said. "I can't believe he did this. Was it to help pay for my school?"

"No. This had nothing to do with you. He got into money trouble for a lot of reasons and a good man made a bad decision. I think it's best you try and remember all the good that he did for you," Rachel said.

"I don't know if I'll be able to. Could you if you were me?"

Rachel thought to herself for a second. "I don't know. My father did some pretty stupid things. But lately I find myself remembering all the fun we had. You know, hiking in the woods, homemade ice cream. I think it's important to remember those things."

"I already miss him so much," Alex said as she started to cry.

"I know you do, sweetie," Rachel said, reaching out to take her head. "I know."

In one of the hallways, Artie was talking with his dad. "You were right. Surgery is in my blood and I'm good at it."

"You're very good at it."

"And I think I might want to pursue it," Artie said.

"Finally. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I'll call Doctor Nelson at Hopkins and secure your spot."

"I didn't say Hopkins."

"I don't understand," Julian said. "You said you wanted to go into surgical."

"And I do. But on my own terms. And not just surgery. Pediatric surgery."

"Pediatrics?" Julian said incredulously.

"Yeah. The drunks, the GSWs, I can do that. But I like working with kids. And I'm good at it."

"That's a very tough discipline. And Johns Hopkins only has one slot. I don't know if I can swing—"

"You don't have to," Artie cut him off. "I've got a secure slot."

"We're going to start a pediatric surgical fellowship here next year," Brody said from where he was standing behind Julian. "Artie will finish up his internship and then move into a dual pediatric and surgical residency."

"That's an awfully big bite you risk for being mediocre at both."

"Or being the best. Go big or go home, right?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Abrams," Brody said as he walked off.

"Look, I only want the best for you," Julian said.

"I know you do, Dad. Believe me, I know. You know, a patient of mine, Oren, same age as me. He just died last night. And the last thing he wanted to do before he died was take a fishing trip with his father. But he never got to make it."

"That…that must have been very tough on his father. There's nothing worse than the loss of a child."

"Well, I'm taking that fishing trip with his father this summer. And I know it's not your thing and it's probably not my thing either but I would very much like it if you came with us."

"Sure. Sure. I'll see if I can make it. Busy schedule and all."

"Yeah of course," Artie said, feeling dejected.

"Artie. I'd love to come but my surgeries are booked so far in advanced there's nothing I can do. But maybe, maybe one day we can make that trip."

"Absolutely," Artie said.

Julian pat him on the shoulder and started walking off. "Don't forget to call your mother."

"I won't forget."

Puck walked up to the nurses' station at the end of the shift. "Great work, everyone. I just want to thank you all for stepping up tonight," he said as Santana started clapping. "Even Jesse. That was solid work you did tonight."

"Thank you," Jesse responded as Puck's phone started beeping again. "So, what's the latest in teenage daughter world? Anything juicy?"

"Uh, yeah. I gotta say, your advice was spot on. Look at this," Puck said, laying the phone down in front of Jesse. "She organized a party for tonight while I'm working and Quinn is at her mom's with the twins."

"I think it's time to bring that hammer down."

"It's definitely time, right?" Puck asked, dialing Beth's phone number. "This is gonna be a little fun. Sometimes, you have to fire a shot across the bow and show them Dad is not a pushover."

"Exactly. You have to scare them sometimes."

"Yeah, Beth, it's Dad. Do not even speak. You're grounded until you're 30. Oh yes I can. Why? Because I know about the party," he said, smirking in Jesse's direction. Jesse responded with a thumbs up. "Put your mother on the phone. Quinn? Yeah, did you know that our—" Puck stopped talking when Quinn started talking. "What? _What?_ I-I was just trying to…okay, okay."

"What was that?" Jesse asked when Puck hung up the phone.

"Well, apparently, my daughter knew I was spying. The whole time."

"What? How?"

"She's a nerd. Like I said. She could tell when I opened her texts and she told Quinn. So they taught me a lesson in trust. SexyMan916 is a fake account. Now my daughter – and my wife – are unhappy with me."

"It was a good plan."

"It was a terrible plan."

"Well, in hindsight—"

"In any sight! Thanks a lot, Jesse. Super advice. I can't wait to go home to my own mass casualty."

"Can you put these over there for me?" Sam asked one of the other nurses at the nurses' station. He looked to his right and saw Santana filing out some paperwork. "So…any plans for after the shift?"

Santana looked up from her paperwork. "You asking?"

"I think I just did."

Santana's smile faded. "Look, you don't have to just because we…"

"Yes. Yes we did. And I don't know about you, but I'd like to do it again. But first, I'd like to take you to dinner. Maybe a movie or a Spurs game."

"Like a real date," Santana said, feeling her smile grow again.

"Date or dates. Doesn't have to be just one."

"Sam Evans," she said, stepping closer to him. "You are interesting mix of ego and sensitivity. Do you know that?"

"Yeah, well, I do what I can. But for now, let's go grab some pancakes."

"Yes. Double stacks because I'm starving," Santana said.

"Sounds good. Just give me one minute. I have one piece of business I have to finish."

All of the doctors crowded into the locker rooms at the end of the shift. Unlike at the beginning of the shift, there was no energy to be found in the room. Instead, they were all about to fall asleep against the lockers.

"So, I was thinking, with a kid and all, we should get a bigger place," Finn whispered to Rachel as she got comfortable in his arms.

She smiled to herself. "That's a great idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

"It's because I have all the good ideas,"

"Shhh. Don't speak," she said.

Kurt sat down on one of the benches next to Puck and laid out. "Hell of a night. So, are we all still going out for breakfast? Or just get…"

"Just another five minutes," Puck said, shutting his eyes.

"Or ten minutes," Rachel said.

"Maybe just call it an even half-hour," Mercedes said, sliding down the lockers to sit on the floor.

"That's good. Half an hour," Finn said.

The room was quiet for a few seconds until an air horn sounded, causing them all to wake up.

"Ahhh, retribution," Sam said as he started laughing at them. "It can be swift." He shut the door and they are got back into their sleeping position.

Once they'd all finished breakfast, Finn and Rachel went back to her place. As soon as she opened the door, Max ran over from where he was on the couch and started jumping up. "Can you take care of him?" Rachel asked, setting her bag down on the front table. "I've got so much I need to do and—"

"The only thing you need to do right now is get sleep," Finn said. "I will take Max out for a quick walk and by the time I get back, you should be in bed, at least trying to fall asleep." He kissed her forehead and grabbed Max's leash off the table. "Come on, boy. Let's go for a walk."

Rachel smiled at him and watched the two of them go for a walk. She looked at the couch, deciding she was too tired to go all the way back to the room. She took a deep breath and kicked her shoes off before collapsing into the couch.

When Finn and Max got back from their walk, he saw Rachel curled up on the couch. Not wanting to wake her up, he crossed the room and gently picked her up. Her arms immediately went around his neck as she pulled herself closer to him and he felt her sigh against his chest.

"I can certainly get used to this," Finn whispered as he carried Rachel back to their room.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Parenthood**

At the beginning of the shift, Rachel, Finn and Puck walked over to the nurses' station desk and stood in front of it, waiting for Sam to look up from what he was doing. "Sam, you got a minute?" Rachel asked, tired of waiting for him.

"Sure, what's up?" he asked, looking up to see not just Rachel, but Finn and Puck as well. "Is this a good talk or a bad talk?"

"Don't worry; you're not in trouble," Puck said as Finn and Rachel started laughing.

"We all know you've been asking for more responsibility and Puck could use some help running the shift so he could see more patients," Rachel started.

"You're a hard worker. And maybe you play too many practical jokes but you have the respect of the staff and everybody likes you—"

"Well, I don't know about everybody," Finn said jokingly.

"Except for him. Anyway, we have the budget for a charge nurse position, so if you want the gig…"

"Are you kidding me? Yeah I want it!" Sam said. "When would I start?"

Puck looked at the doors and saw someone coming into the hospital. "Looks like right now."

"Male, 50s, stab wound to the upper right arm," one of the paramedics said as he was bringing in a patient. "He's tachy in the 120s but vitals are overall stable. Second gurney behind me."

"What happened?" Finn asked.

"His daughter did this," the paramedic said.

"No, no she didn't. It was an accident. I fell."

"Hey, Jesse, go in with Finn," Sam said, pointing to the trauma room.

The second gurney was coming in with a screaming girl strapped into the gurney to keep her from moving too much. "What's going on?" Rachel asked.

"Female, 20-years-old, laceration to the left cheek. She's delusional with auditory hallucinations," a paramedic said.

Puck went to examine her eyes and make sure everything was okay when the patient bit him. "Hey, no biting," Puck said, pulling his hand back.

"I'm going to kill you!"

Puck called out what to give her as they wheeled her into a different trauma room than her father to try and suture up the cut on her cheek and figure out what was going on with her.

In her father's trauma room, Finn was working on getting the knife out of his arm. "Good news. The wound is superficial," he said, putting the knife on the table. "We'll suture you right up and you'll be good as new. Jesse, what do we do next?"

"Irrigate the wound."

"Exactly right," Finn said as he started doing that.

"Hey, doc? There was an officer that came in right behind us. You think you can tell him my daughter had nothing to do with this?"

"It's pretty hard to fall on a knife," Finn said.

"Come on."

"Don't worry. You can trust me."

"I don't know what happened. Amanda just spiraled all day until…she just snapped. I just wanted to calm her down so I grabbed her arm and she thought I was trying to kill her so she stabbed me. So I slapped her and she hit her head on the counter," he said, wincing when Finn stuck a needle into his arm. "I just can't believe I hit my daughter."

"Sounds like self-defense to me," Finn said.

"Doctor Hudson is right. If you wouldn't have stopped her, you would have come in her DOA. Don't be so hard on yourself," Jesse said.

"It's just…in six years, nothing's changed. We've been to every psychiatrist here in San Antonio and they say she's got bipolar disorder, delusional disorder…there's so many disorders that I don't even know how to keep track."

"I'll bet she's on a million different meds, too," Jesse said.

"You name it, she's been on it. Nothing works. Shrink says I should put her in an institution but she's my little girl. I can't do that. I'm not giving up on her."

In Amanda's trauma room, she was sedated and Puck and Rachel were working on stitching her up when the door opened. "Can I help you, officer?" Rachel asked.

"This girl attacked her dad. She's out of her mind. She kicked me in the head when I was with the medics," the officer said, pointing to a mark on his face.

"Okay, uh, Heather, can you get the officer an ice pack please?" Rachel said.

"Is she under arrest?" Puck asked.

"Dad doesn't want to press charges but that may not be his call. You think she's really nutso?"

"Well, I'm not aware of nutso as a technical diagnosis, but she does seem to be experiencing some type of psychosis," Rachel said.

"Well, a lot of people like to fake crazy so they go to the hospital instead of jail."

"Thanks for the hot tip, but she has legitimate injuries," Puck said. "We'll let you know when she's done."

"Fine by me. I got plenty of paperwork back at the station. But when I come back, I'm either taking her to jail or the nuthouse."

Across town, Kurt and Mercedes were at a military ceremony. "Attention, orders," someone said as everyone stood up. "The Secretary of the Army has reposed special trust and patriotism in the honor…"

Mercedes leaned in towards Kurt. "Thanks for taking me," she whispered. "I've never been to a promotion ceremony. It's so exciting."

"Army promotions are a lot tamer at home," Kurt said. "If we were deployed, my buddy Harvey would be running to the mud gate and getting punched by every NCO in his battalion."

"Please let me know when you get promoted because I got a great right hook," Mercedes said.

They both turned their attention back to the colonel. "Harvey Luis Castro, advance from Sergeant to Staff Sergeant."

After the ceremony, Kurt and Mercedes were talking to the colonel when Harvey and his wife came over. "Staff Sergeant, congratulations," he said. "I was just telling Captain Hummel and his lovely friend that you have a long career in the Army. I hope you enjoy your work as much as I do."

"Thanks for coming, man," Harvey said, giving Kurt a hug.

"I wouldn't miss it," Kurt said. "So, where are the kids?"

"They're with Harvey's parents. We booked a hotel downtown for the night. A little romantic stay-cation," his wife said.

"I'll probably pass out in front of the TV," Harvey said.

"Wow, Sergeant Romance over here," his wife said, jokingly rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, this is Mercedes," Kurt said, introducing her. "This is Harvey and his fantastic wife that he does not deserve, Gina."

"Are you hungry?" Gina asked with a smile.

"Yes. Let's eat!" Mercedes said, allowing herself to get dragged off with Gina.

Kurt opened his mouth to say something to Harvey but was cut off when he heard a man angrily addressing the colonel. "Screw you, Lee," he said, pulling out a gun to shoot the colonel.

"Everybody down!" Kurt called as he rushed towards the gunman and knocked him over. Mercedes ran over to check on the colonel and make sure he was going to be okay.

"Gina!" Harvey called, seeing his wife sprawled on the ground. "Kurt, help me! You can't die on me."

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Kurt said.

"She's losing a lot of blood," Harvey said.

"It hit an artery. Mercedes, what do you have?"

"GSW to the chest and neck. So far only mild respiratory distress. I'm putting pressure on the neck wound but I need internal pressure or he's going to bleed out."

Kurt looked around and saw someone in a wheelchair. "Sir? Do you self-cathe?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to need an unused catheter for the colonel."

"Hold on, I got one," he said, reaching behind him to get the catheter from his bag.

"Harvey, grab that and give it to Mercedes," Kurt said as he tried to stop Gina from bleeding out. "Mercedes, what you're going to do is…"

"Insert the tube into the colonel's neck and inflate the balloon to stop the bleeding. I know," Mercedes said.

"Kurt, what's happening to her?" Harvey asked.

"It's okay. I got my finger on the artery. I need you to go out and direct the paramedics back here when they arrive. How's it working, Mercedes?"

"It's working just fine," Mercedes said, watching the blood drain.

"We need to get these two to the hospital," Kurt said.

Back at the hospital, Artie was doing an exam on a young boy when Rachel came in. "Hi everyone, I'm Doctor Berry. So, I understand that Marcus has cystic fibrosis?"

"It's called 65 Roses. You know why?" Marcus asked.

"Because when it was first diagnosed, most kids couldn't pronounce it so the nickname took off," Artie said.

"He's the only doctor that's known that!" Marcus said. "Totally cool."

"As you can see, you are in excellent hands with Doctor Abrams," Rachel said, smiling at Marcus.

"So, it sounds like Marcus has—"

"Pneumonia," his mother finished for Artie. "It's the third time this year. We just moved here from Dallas. These are his records from the children's hospital there," she said, handing over a large binder full of papers. "All of his old treatments and medicines are in here, especially the ones that didn't work. His stomach is already a mess from the mucus build up so start him on cefacapene, one gram every eight hours until his culture comes back."

Rachel and Artie shared a look with each other. "My mom's not being rude," Marcus said. "She's just being efficient."

"No, it's impressive. And it's good that your mom knows her stuff. It makes our job a lot easier," Rachel said. "So, Doctor Abrams. What would you suggest?"

"Just what she said. I would also order a chest x-ray and set him up for breathing treatments."

"Excellent, I'll leave you to it. It was nice meeting you both," Rachel said as she left the exam room.

Finn and Puck went into Amanda's trauma room to see how she was feeling after getting sedated and sutured up. "Hi, I'm Doctor Puckerman and this is Doctor Hudson. How do you feel?"

"My head's still a little fuzzy," she said. She saw the bandage on her dad's arm. "Oh god. Did I do that?"

"It's okay, honey, don't worry about it."

"I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening to me. I've been so much better lately. I enrolled in a couple of college classes and I thought my meds were starting to work."

"Can we remove these restraints? I think she's calm now," her father said.

"Yeah, we can do that," Puck said, nodding at Finn.

Amanda flexed her wrists and rolled them around after the restraints were off. "My back is really hurting."

"That's because the police tackled you to the ground, honey," her father said.

"No, it's that same pain. My back, my stomach…they're killing me."

"Same pain?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, she complains about it a lot. The doctors say it's psychosomatic."

"Why doesn't anyone believe me?" Amanda asked, getting impatient. "It really hurts all the time. I swear."

"By any chance, are you menstruating?" Puck asked.

"Yeah. But I know what cramps feel like. This is different." She finished speaking and hunched over from the pain.

"This happens a few times a week," her father said.

"Let's get her five of morphine," Puck said.

"Hey, Puck?" Finn said, thinking about the case. "She's still in pain, back pain, it could be appendicitis or pancreatitis. Maybe even kidney stones or an ovarian cyst," Finn said, going over to the ultra sound machine. "Let's do a pelvic ultra sound and abdominal CT."

"Do you think this pain is real?" Amanda's father asked them.

"It _is_ real," Amanda said.

"We're going to find out," Finn said.

Out in the hallway, Jesse was on the phone with someone. "You can't do this to my daughter. Her birthday is in two days. I'll – uh – I'll pay it off in installments. Please, I'm begging you." Jesse waited to hear a response from the other end. He frowned and punched the wall, causing Rachel, who was walking by, to jump. "Sorry."

"It's fine. I was just…passing through."

Jesse started laughing. "I was just…um…I just lost the venue for my daughter's sweet sixteen. With the divorce and the pay cut, it all adds up. And I just maxed out all my credit cards. Her birthday is in two days. If I don't find a place for her to have this party, my daughter will be crushed and my ex-wife will kill me."

"Jesse, I'm sorry. That's awful. Is there anything I can do?"

"No. Thank you. I got myself into this. I'll get myself out."

Out in the lobby, Sam was on the phone when Kurt ran into the hospital. "Incoming!" he called.

Sam rushed over the gurney. "What the hell happened?"

"Shooter at the ceremony. This is my friend, Gina."

"Let's take her to trauma two."

"GSW to the parietal scalp, massive blood loss, and I have my finger on a pumping scalp artery. GCS is 4-5-3. Make sure you get Finn," Kurt said as they brought her into the trauma room.

"Will do," Sam said, holding the door open for them.

"Sam, I need you to keep him calm," Kurt said, talking about Harvey.

"That's my wife, I'm not going to calm down!"

"Sir, focus on me," Sam said. "I know this is a terrible situation but you're not helping your wife. We need to let Doctor Hummel work. It's the best thing you can do."

"Save her, Kurt!" Harvey yelled.

"I've got the colonel!" Mercedes yelled as she was coming into the hospital. Sam took off running to guide them into the hospital.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"GSW to the chest with a complete heart block. The bullet must have injured his atrial-ventricular node. He needs a pacemaker. I need Brody."

"He's not working tonight. Go up to surgery and I'll page the on call surgeon."

In Gina's trauma room, Kurt was working on stopping the bleeding. "Get me another 2-0 prolene."

"BP is down to 76 systolic," Nurse Jocelyn said.

Finn opened the door to the trauma room. "What's going on?" he asked, looking at her monitor.

"GSW to the scalp. Just grazed her, but nicked an artery."

"You know the trick, right?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything."

"Kurt, you got this. Just keep doing what you're doing. I'm across the hall if you need me."

"I need to cross and type for four and get two units on the rapid infuser," Kurt said.

"Got it right here," Sam said, coming into the room and handed the blood to Jocelyn.

Gina started breathing quickly and Kurt could tell she was starting to freak out. "Hey, Sam?"

He looked down at Gina and saw exactly what Kurt wanted him to do. "Hey, Gina? I'm Sam."

"I got shot in the head. Oh god, I got shot in the head!"

"It's okay, Gina. I'm fixing you up," Kurt said.

"Gina, I need you to keep your eyes on me and take some deep breaths. Hey, let's take a fun little quiz. Which do you think is bigger: Russia or Pluto?"

"I don't know. Pluto?"

"See, that's the thing you'd think, right? But it's Russia. Everyone knows Pluto's not a planet anymore and got it's puny little ass kicked out of the solar system. We only want real planets up in here," Sam said, making Gina laugh a little.

Out at the nurses' station, Finn and Puck were working on paperwork when they heard Amanda start screaming from her trauma room. "They're trying to kill me!" she yelled, grabbing the tray that was by her bed as she started swinging it around. "Stay back!" she yelled as Finn wrapped his arms around her to try and get her to stop. She ducked her head then slammed it back, hitting Finn right above his right eyebrow.

"Wait, what's happening to her? She stopped breathing!" her father said as Amanda crashed to the ground.

"Someone get me a crash cart!" Puck yelled.

A little bit later, they were working on getting her intubated so she could breathe again. "Wait, hold the intubation. She's breathing again."

"What happened to her?" her father asked.

"We don't know," Finn said. "Heather, since she's still out, keep her on high flow oxygen."

"She hit you good," Puck said, pointing at the spot on Finn's forehead. "Let me clean that up for you."

"I'm really sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it," Finn said. "Happens all the time."

"I feel like my daughter is dying right in front of me and no one can do anything for her—"

"Frank!" Finn said, trying to get him to listen. "The more physical symptoms we have means more pieces of the puzzle. If we can pinpoint the cause, we can cure her."

Amanda's monitors started beeping and she started shaking. "She's seizing!" Puck said, rolling her to her side.

"She's seizing? What do you mean she's seizing?"

"Sam, I need you to take Frank to the waiting room," Finn said.

"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere. Let me stay with her."

"Finn, what the hell is going on?" Puck asked.

"I don't know and I don't like it."

In Marcus' exam room, the breathing treatments didn't seem to be working as well as Artie was hoping they would. "His temp and respiratory rates are going up."

"It's because it's not working. He's not responding to cefacapene. It happens sometimes."

"Mom?" Marcus said weakly. "Did you quit the chess game because I'm kicking your butt?"

"One second, honey."

"Has he ever had a nebulizing antibiotic? The medicine would go directly to his lungs."

"Yeah, good luck with that. You have to submit paperwork to Medicaid for that. Other hospitals have tried and it didn't work."

"Well, we do things a little differently around here. Oh, and Marcus, watch out for her knight. She's baiting you," Artie said.

"Dude, I'm beating her. Don't give up my strategy."

Jesse was coming out of a patient's room when he saw Lydia and Naomi come into the hospital. "Dad! Is it true that we're not having my birthday party?"

"This is unbelievable, Jesse," Lydia said. "You said you took care of it."

"Can we talk about this in private please?" Jesse asked, leading them into the break room.

"Poor Jesse," Jocelyn said to Rachel at the nurses' station desk. "He's in deep."

"Yeah," Rachel said with a sigh. "I heard that her sweet sixteen got cancelled. I just wish there was something we could do." She looked around the desk, trying to look into the break room to see or hear what was going on.

"Really, Lydia? You just had to come down here, didn't you?"

"Because you didn't answer your phone."

"Because I'm working!" Jesse said, feeling his anger rise.

"The hotel manager called and said that we had to pick up all the decorations," Naomi said, trying to hold back her tears. "I just wish you would have told me."

"I'm sorry, bug," Jesse said softly. "I was trying to fix it first. I'm gonna make it up to you. We'll have the party in a few months once I can afford it and I've saved up a little."

"If you knew you couldn't afford it, why would you say you could do it?" Lydia asked.

"Because I underestimated expenses, okay?" Jesse snapped. "Listen, Naomi, money's a little tight right now and I screwed up. I know and I'm so sorry."

"Then you can call everyone and tell them the party is cancelled and why. I'm not taking crap on this one," Lydia said. "This is on you."

"I can't believe this!" Naomi called, running out of the break room.

In Gina's trauma room, Kurt was talking to her to gauge her pain. "So, how are you feeling?"

"I have an epic headache."

"Well, I should think so. You just had a bullet bounce off your head."

"Actually, I've been having these headaches for a few weeks," Gina said.

"For a few weeks?"

"I've just been stressed out way too much over whether or not Harvey was going to get promoted. I just thought that was the reason."

"Okay. I'll keep an eye on it."

"Baby," Harvey said, coming into the trauma room. "How do you feel?"

"I'm just a little shaken up. Did you check on the kids?"

"Talked to my dad and he said the kids are asleep and fine. Do you need anything?"

"No, I just have a headache."

Harvey nodded and walked over to where Kurt was standing. "Sorry for yelling at you."

"Yeah, well, it hurt my feelings," Kurt said with a laugh.

"And that's why I'm apologizing."

"Don't worry about it," Kurt said with a wave of his hand.

"So, I heard the shooter was the colonel's brother-in-law. Apparently he was pissed the colonel wouldn't sign off on a co-loan for a company."

"I don't get it. The guy does four tours and the first time he gets shot is by his brother-in-law over a business loan? What the hell is wrong with people?"

Mercedes pushed open the doors and came in to stand next to Kurt. "So I just finished with the colonel and he's in recovery and wants to see you. I have to show you something first." She started typing something on the computer keyboard and pulled up Gina's scans.

"Damn it."

"What?" Harvey asked, coming back over to see what they were looking at. "Is that Gina's x-ray?"

"It's her CT," Kurt said softly.

"Don't use that tone," Harvey said.

"Come here," Kurt said. "So, Gina, you have something called an arterial-venous malformation in your brain. It's an AVM, it's a huge spider web of tangled veins and arteries. It's what's causing your headaches. Mercedes, did you already call a neurosurgeon?"

"Yes, I let them know. I'll go make sure the OR's prepped."

"I don't understand what happened," Harvey said.

"She may have had the AVM since birth but the force of the bullet hitting her skull caused it bleed."

"Her brain is bleeding?"

"Yes and we have to get it out now," Kurt said, unlocking the brakes on the bed to move Gina up to an OR.

In one of the hallways, Jesse was walking around and Rachel ran up to him. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"No. My kid's completely destroyed and it's all my fault."

"Well, I don't know what it's like to be a parent, but I know what it's like to be a daughter," Rachel said, trying to help. "And she's angry with you now but it's just a blip in the big picture."

"Rachel," Jesse said, turning to face her. "I'm gonna give you a little head's up about being a parent. Your child's well being and happiness is all you think about. No matter what you're doing or what's happening during the day, you think about them and if they ate right, what's happening at school…it's like a continuous soundtrack running through your head."

"So…all the time?"

"All the time. This party meant everything to Naomi and I let her down. She'll forgive me but she'll never forget. And neither will I."

"Rachel, Marcus isn't responding to cefacapene and he needs nebulized antibiotics. Is there any way he can get them before it's submitted to Medicaid?"

"The medicine is pretty expense. Medicaid probably won't reimburse and there's no way the administration will approve of them."

"Then I'll pay for them," Artie said, causing Rachel to look at him with wide eyes.

"If you pay for every drug that's not covered by insurance, you'll be broke in a week."

"Then I'll worry about that next week," Artie said as Rachel sighed.

"Artie, come on. You have a big heart and I love that about you. But we need to be realistic about what we can and cannot do. I will try and fast track the paperwork on the medication, but it can still take a month. So now, just add an IV of this," Rachel said, taking something off one of the tables. "It might work," she said before she walked off.

"Okay. But this sucks."

Rachel stopped and turned around. "Yeah. It does."

A little while later, Rachel and Puck were in Amanda's room when Finn walked in. "Hey. She really did get you," Rachel said, looking at the cut above Finn's eyebrow. "You're lucky she didn't break your nose."

"I miss a good punch to the face," Finn said sarcastically, making Rachel roll her eyes.

"You're looking at Amanda's new labs?" Puck asked.

"Yes. Give me a list of symptoms," Rachel said.

"Seizures, stomach pains, back pains, skin lesions, paranoia, hallucinations…" Finn started to list.

"Could it be auto-immune hepatitis?"

"We did a full immunity work up. There weren't any antibodies."

"This is so frustrating. Her father must feel so helpless," Rachel said, running a hand through her hair. "I'm not looking forward to this part of parenthood, by the way."

"We're doctors. We'll be more in control of medical emergencies," Finn said.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," Puck said. "You have no control. Beth sneezes and I get a chill up my spine."

"That's because you're weird," Finn said, making Puck start laughing.

"Hey guys," Sam said, coming into the trauma room. "The arresting officer just called and he wants to take her into custody. I tried stalling him but he's heading over."

"Well, this sucks," Puck said. "We can keep him out for a little bit but if she wakes up and starts flipping out again, she's off to the psych ward."

"You know what, when the cop gets here, let me deal with him," Rachel said.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Finn asked.

"Don't worry about me. I got this," Rachel said, winking at him before walking out of the room. Puck and Finn shared a look and went back to trying to figure out what was going on.

In the colonel's room, he was waking up from surgery. "How's Staff Sergeant's wife doing?" he asked as Mercedes was making sure he was okay.

"She's still in surgery. We'll know more in a couple of hours."

The door opened and Kurt walked in. "Colonel, how do you feel?"

"Tell me you beat the crap out of that son of a bitch brother-in-law of mine."

"I did what I needed to do, sir," Kurt said, taking over for Mercedes to finish the exam.

"There were a lot of people there but you were the only one who acted."

"Thanks, sir. But we're here to talk about you. Doctor Jones assisted on your surgery," Kurt said, gesturing to Mercedes.

"Colonel, the bullet ruptured your heart valve so we replaced it. But the damage to your heart's electrical system couldn't be repaired so we had to put in a pacemaker."

"That's a disability discharge from the Army."

"I'm so sorry, sir," Kurt said. "I can talk to the medical evaluator board and get something else done but this doesn't have to mean the end of your career."

The colonel sighed. "Could you not do that?"

"Sir?"

"I love the Army, Captain. But I gave up everything for it. My marriage fell apart, I wasn't there as much as I should have been for my sons…it's time to make up for lost time. Getting shot kind of puts things into perspective for me," he said as he started coughing.

"Kurt, look at his face. It's swelling," Mercedes said.

"He's got hives. Get me a crash cart!" he yelled. "I need Benadryl. He's going into anaphylactic shock."

"He doesn't have any allergies!" Mercedes said, putting an oxygen mask on him. She started taking the bandages off from the surgery and saw how red his chest was.

"It's the pacemaker," Kurt said. "He has to be allergic to the cables."

"I'll call cardiology."

"No time. We're gonna have to take the pacemaker out."

"Now?" Mercedes asked incredulously. Kurt gave her look and she went to stand on the other side of colonel as he started calling out directions to her.

He pulled out the pacemaker and the wires and looked at it.

In Marcus's exam room, things weren't go so well. "He can't breathe! Help!" his mom called.

Artie ran into the room. "His oxygen level's dropping. I need to put him on a vent. Get me a nurse!"

"It's gonna be okay, baby," his mom said, trying to comfort him.

"Grab a vent and set up for intubation," Artie said when the nurse got into the room.

Rachel looked around the corner into the lobby and saw the police officer had just arrived. She fluffed her hair a little, put on a perky smile and started walking towards him. "Hey, officer. "

"Is my perp ready to go?" he asked.

"I'll check but I think she's getting more tests." She smiled at him and stepped closer. "You know, I am so happy you came back. I couldn't get you out of my mind."

"Doc, I'm flattered but I'm taken," he said, trying to step around her.

"Wait! I'm concerned about the kick to the head," Rachel said, trying to stop him. "I think you should get a CT scan."

"Seems kind of extreme," he said as he started walking towards Amanda's trauma room.

"Well," Rachel said, linking arms with him to lead him towards radiology. "Wouldn't it be extreme if you didn't get the scan and you dropped dead from a brain bleed?" Rachel asked, batting her eyelashes up at him.

"Yeah, okay. But how much is this gonna run me?"

Rachel let out a little laugh. "Oh stop. It's on the house for our boys in blue. Come on, let's go," Rachel said, leading the way towards radiology.

At the nurses' station, Sam came back from a patient's room and started looking for something when Artie came up. "Hey, bud. How's Marcus doing?" Sam asked.

"Terrible. I had to put him on a vent."

"Damn. Sorry you had to do that," Sam said.

"Yeah. You should have seen the look on his face when I had to intubate. The kid's only nine-years-old and he's been through enough pain to last a lifetime. It's not fair."

"I hear that. Sick kids always mess me up too. I'll keep good thoughts," Sam said as he got paged.

Artie watched him leave and noticed something Sam left laying out on the desk. He walked over and move some stuff around and saw his ID badge. Artie unclipped it from the clipboard and walked to the storage room with the medications in it.

Once he got in, he swiped Sam's badge into the computer and typed in the prescription code for the medicine that Marcus would need. The door that held the medicine opened and Artie took the drug out and left.

He walked into Marcus' exam room and started adding the medicine to Marcus' central line. "You got the meds?" his mom asked with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah. I got it worked out."

"With Medicaid?"

"No, one of the pharmacists owned me a favor. So he gave me samples from the drug company. They were free to the hospital so they're free to you."

"That's unbelievable," she said, pushing some of the hair back from Marcus' forehead.

"Are you okay?" Artie asked, sensing something was going on.

"I'm just…I'm not used to people helping me. It's nice to have someone care for a change. His father…sorry, I shouldn't…"

"It's fine."

"He bailed when he saw how hard it was to take care of Marcus. He always treated Marcus like he was some kind of cripple. And my kid doesn't need pity or tears. He needs love."

"Sounds like he gets plenty of that," Artie said with smile.

"And he does. Anyway, thank you."

In the Colonel's room, Kurt and Mercedes were working on figuring out what he was allergic to. "This one is cobalt," Kurt said, marking something on a Post-It note that was on his arm.

"And this one is silicone," Mercedes said.

"You holding up okay?" Kurt asked, looking at his friend. "We haven't had a chance to talk about the shooting."

"Honestly, tonight was a lot. Life is just so out of our control. An accident, a moment…"

"That's why I'm trying to live life in the moment. Especially after Blaine's accident and the break up. I'm just trying to hit all the blips and the bumps and go for a ride. All for the best. Because like you said, it's out of our control."

Mercedes nodded and looked at something on the Colonel's arm. "Kurt, look at that patch," she said, pointing to the cobalt one. It was red and splotchy.

"He's allergic to cobalt. So now we just to find a manufacturer who makes a pacemaker without cobalt. Can you start making some phone calls? I should go check on Gina."

"Of course. I'll get Jesse to help out."

In radiology, Rachel was getting the police officer ready for his CT scan. "So, look, I know I said I'm taken, but my girlfriend and I have been talking about having one of those open relationships. You know, where you can have sex with other people?"

Rachel stopped what she was doing, looked away and rolled her eyes. "You don't say," she said flatly.

"I mean, let's be honest, after awhile it gets boring doing the same old, same old," he said as he started going into the scan.

"You need to be quiet or the scan won't work." Rachel shook her head and walked into the control room. "Don't run the scan and don't tell anyone about this and I can get you the next three weekends off," she said to the radiologist.

"Deal."

"Awesome. Catch you later," Rachel said, leaving the room.

In Amanda's room, Puck and Finn were still trying to figure out what was going on. "Maybe this is mental illness. Maybe we're trying to find something that isn't there."

"Puck, both of our guts told us it wasn't psychiatric," Finn said.

"Sometimes our guts are wrong. Sometimes it's just us trying to fix something that we can't."

"No, that's not it."

"Her father said she's been to every psychiatrist in town. What do we know that they don't?"

"What did we learn in the war?" Finn asked. "Learn to follow your gut. And what happened when we didn't?" Finn looked around and noticed something. "Puck, look at the bag."

"Purple pee?"

"Purple pee. GI and neuro systems with diaphragmatic paralysis…" Finn said.

"Seizures and skin blisters and menstrual cycle…"

"Purple pee!" they said at the same time, high fiving each other.

In the hallway, Rachel and Sam were talking. "You think you can pull it off with this much short notice?" he asked.

"We don't know if we don't try, right? Just spread the word," she said, grabbing a patient's file.

"Roger that."

Kurt was walking around, trying to find Harvey and finally found him in the break room. "Hey, I was just looking for you. I have an update from the OR. Gina's gonna be in there for another hour, but so far so good."

Harvey let out a sigh of relief. "The surgeon told me if you hadn't ordered the brain scan…"

"It's my job," Kurt said. "It's gonna be okay."

Harvey nodded and sat down. "Sorry about trying to hook you up with my cousin. I should have asked what kind of guys you were into but I just wanted to help and saw you were hurting."

"I know. And I'm still not over Blaine and I'm not ready to meet someone else and pretend I care about what school they went to and the names of their sister's kids. I'm still in the 'this all really sucks' stage."

"That's the same relationship crap men and women go through."

"Yes. It's called being in love. Don't be such a moron."

At the nurses' station, Sam sat down at one of the computers and looked over at Mercedes. "How you doing?" he asked.

She turned around from the computer screen. "Hey. Just super hard to find a pacemaker that doesn't have cobalt," she said, going back to typing something.

"No, I mean how are _you_ doing? With…you had a crazy scary night."

"Yeah, I just haven't had much time to process it yet. I've just been running around."

"I want you to know I'm really glad nothing bad happened to you. And I hope nothing bad does happen to you. Look, I'm your friend. If you ever want to talk or grab a beer or whatever, I'm around."

Mercedes smiled at him. "Thanks, Sam. And congrats on your promotion. You're gonna be so great!"

"Mercedes, I found it!" Jesse said, hanging up the phone. "Gold coated pacemaker. It's a Danish manufacturer with a 24-hour warehouse right here in San Antonio. I will be right back," he said.

"Hey, Artie," Rachel said, coming up to the nurses' station. "How's Marcus doing?"

"A lot better actually," he said. "But I'm gonna make sure he keeps getting treatments."

"So the medicine I gave you worked?"

"Y-yeah. It did."

"Good. Sometimes it works," Rachel said, smiling at him before she left.

Artie waited until she left before putting Sam's ID badge back on the clipboard.

A little while later, Kurt went to Gina's recovery room to see how she was going. "I heard surgery went great," he said, walking into the room.

"I've had better days but the kids are gonna love this look. They're gonna call me Mummy."

"Oh good we're making puns," Kurt said.

"I've been getting a lot of texts," Harvey said. "You're gonna get accommodation for what you did tonight."

"And you're a star. You're all over the Internet," Gina said. "Show him the video."

"What video?" Kurt asked.

"You're 15 minutes of fame have started," Harvey said, showing Kurt the video of him taking down the gunman. "It already has 350,000 views."

In Amanda's trauma room, Puck was injecting something into her as Finn explained what was going on. "So, she has protheria. It's a disorder that results from buildup of molecules in the red blood cells."

"So, you're saying this thing is what's causing the mental disorders?" her father asked she started to wake up.

"Yes, and it's easily treatable by high glucose IV and a medication called hematine which should work," Finn said.

The doors to the trauma room burst open and the officer came inside with Rachel trying to stop him. "Wait, I have to check your neuro exam," Rachel said, trying to buy Finn and Puck more time.

"You said I was fine. I'm not doing any more tests. I need to bring her in now. Miss, I need to read you your rights."

"Just wait," Finn said. "It's not a mental illness, she's not dangerous, she doesn't have to go to jail."

"You're sure about this diagnosis, right?" Amanda's father asked.

"Yeah," Finn said.

"No, I'm not a guinea pig!" Amanda said as Puck tried to give her the medication.

"She pulled out her IV," Puck said, injecting a sedative into her neck to calm her down.

A little bit later, everything was under control. "Meds are in," Puck said.

"Okay, Amanda," Finn said. "How's your pain?"

"Better," she said with a smile. "A lot better. Daddy, the pain's going away."

"She's like the exorcist," the officer said from where he was standing. Rachel turned to glare at him. "So, is this for real?"

"Very. And she's only going to get better," Puck said.

"Well, I won't take her in but I will have to give her a summons to appear in court."

"What if we testify for her?" Finn asked.

"Case might be dismissed."

"Then count us in," Puck said.

"Okay," he said, turning around to leave. "Oh, doc, think about what I was saying back there. The, uh…"

"Good night, officer," Rachel said, cutting him off.

"Copy that," he said as he left.

"Sounds like you took one for the team there, Rachel," Puck said.

"Not in the way he wanted to," Rachel said, turning to Amanda. "I'm Doctor Berry, I'm glad to see you're doing better."

"So, we're going to prescribe you some medication to keep the disorder in check and you're going to have to continue to IV treatments for a few days," Puck said.

"And no going into the sun, no smoking, no alcohol. Got it?" Finn asked.

"Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it," Amanda said. She leaned forward and gave her dad a hug, leaving Finn room to give Puck a fist pump. He turned towards Rachel and gave her one too.

In the hallway, Marcus was being moved to the pediatrics floor. "So, you're only going to be in the hospital for a day or two but I will come and check on you and visit and maybe kick your butt in some chess."

"Bring it on," Marcus said.

"And if you ever need anything while you're here or after you're discharged, just ask for me and you will go to the front of the line."

"VIP treatment," Marcus' mom said with smile.

"What's VIP?" he asked.

"That would be Very Important Person. Which you are," Artie said as Marcus was put in the elevator.

"I like that!"

"See you later, bud," Artie said as Marcus' mom slipped something into Artie's scrubs pocket. "That's my number. I don't usually go for doctors with their twisted God-complexes. But you are the cutest," she said as she got in the elevator.

"Here it is!" Jesse said, walking into the hospital with new pacemaker.

"Thank you, Jesse," Mercedes said, taking the pacemaker from him. "The colonel's already upstairs getting prepped so I'll run this up."

Rachel stepped out of the break room and saw Mercedes running up and Jesse standing there. "Way to go on the pacemaker."

"At least I got one thing right tonight."

"Okay, enough with this pity party out of you," Rachel said. "We're all going to dinner later and I think you should come. I'm buying."

"Well, if you're buying, I am in. But I am going home to get some rest. It's been a long night. Text me the details later."

Rachel nodded and watched him leave the hospital. "Okay, everyone! Gather around. Okay, we don't have a lot of time. I know you heard about this from either Sam or me and you all have your assignments and we really need to pull together to make this happen. Are you all with me?" she asked her co-workers that were standing around.

That night before their next shift, Rachel was putting the final touches on the party decorations for Naomi's birthday party. "So, what do you think? Is she going to like it?" Rachel asked Finn, looking back at him.

"I think she's going to love it," Finn said, wrapping his arms around Rachel. "God, my sweet sixteen was crazy. Thad thought it would be a great idea to have the party while our parents weren't home. It was more like a sweet sixteen rager than a party," Finn said as he started laughing. "What was yours like?"

"I wouldn't know. I didn't have one."

"What?" Finn asked, raising an eyebrow. "How did you not have a sweet sixteen party?"

Rachel shrugged. "I turned sixteen a few months after my dad died and my mom wasn't in the mood to entertain a bunch of teenaged girls. So she gave me a bunch of money and told me to go to the movies and treat my friends to dinner instead." She smiled up at Finn. "So I want this party for Naomi to be perfect. That way I'll know I can throw an amazing sweet sixteen party." Rachel looked at her watch. "You should go. It's time for you to get the birthday girl."

Finn gave Rachel a kiss. "For your next birthday, you're getting a double celebration. To make up for the lack of a sweet sixteen."

"Nothing too out there, please. We are going to have a baby to take care of."

Finn winked at her. "That's why we send the kid off to Uncle Puck and Aunt Quinn's for the night."

Rachel rolled her eyes and watched him walk off.

A short while later, she heard the sound of motorcycles pull up and knew that the party was about to start. She walked out to the front of the restaurant and saw her co-workers standing there and Finn arriving with Naomi on the back of his bike.

"Wow!" Jesse said when he got there. "Who did this?"

"It was all Rachel," Puck said.

"Jesse, you've always been there for me and now we're all here for you. You're part of the family."

"Thank you," Jesse said, giving her a small nod. Naomi and Finn walked over to them and she wrapped her arms around her dad. "Happy birthday, sweetheart."

"This isn't what I planned but it's still pretty cool. I got to ride on the back of a motorcycle!"

"I saw that," Jesse said, glaring at Finn. "I hope you enjoyed it because it's the last time you will."

Lydia walked over to where Jesse was. "I'm not going to say I'm not mad anymore, because I am, but you have some amazing friends."

"Okay, everyone, why don't we all head inside and get this party started!" Rachel said. "Jesse and Naomi, you both have wardrobe changes waiting for you inside."

Once the two of them were dressed, Jesse offered her a hand to dance. "Um, Dad, it smells like beer in here," she whispered.

"Yes it does."

"No fighting with Mom tonight, okay?" she asked.

"I promise. And I promise I won't make any more promises that I can't keep."

Off to the side, Finn held Rachel in his arms as they watched the father and daughter dance. "What you did for Jesse is pretty fantastic."

"He's had a tough year. He needed a win."

"Parenthood is gonna be pretty complicated," Finn said.

"We're gonna make some mistakes, but it's part of the adventure, right?" Rachel asked.

Kurt needed some air, so he grabbed two cups of Coke and went outside to where Mercedes was standing. "Hey. I thought you and I were gonna try and make some money betting on darts."

Mercedes looked up at him and swallowed. "Yeah. Um, there's a lot of happiness in there."

Kurt looked at the envelop she was holding in her hands. "What's that?"

"The results of my breast cancer gene test."

"What's it say?"

"I haven't opened it yet. Just been too scared."

"I can imagine. Look, what we talked about earlier? You can't control what's in that envelop. But you can control what you do when you find out."

"You'll be there for me, right? Every step of the way?"

"Every single one of them."

Mercedes nodded and ripped open the envelop with shaking hands. She pulled out the test results and started sobbing. She handed them to Kurt and kept crying.

"That's negative. Oh thank god it's negative," Kurt said, pulling her into his arms for a hug.

"I love you so much," Mercedes said into his shoulder.

"I love you too," Kurt whispered back.

Artie grabbed a beer from one of the coolers and walked over to where Sam was at the sound station. "Great tunes, man. I brought you a beer," he said, handing it to him. "Congratulations on your new job."

"Thank you. Hey, did you know part of my new job is to do an end-of-the-shift checklist? And one of the things I check is the new pharmacy tracking records?"

Artie felt his spine stiffen. "O-oh really?"

"Yeah. And according to those records, I took out nebulizing antibiotics at five this morning. Except I didn't."

"Sam…"

"Wow. You really did that? You stole my badge?"

"I didn't steal it. I borrowed it. I'm sorry. I didn't think about the tracking. I was just trying to help Marcus and he couldn't get the medication because of some stupid rule."

"Hey, I'm all for Marcus, you know that. But you didn't even ask! You put my job at risk – my new job. Of one day. Now, I'm gonna take the heat and say I put the wrong order in or something. But that's the first and last time I do that."

"Sorry. Never again. I promise."

"Watch out, man, I gotta get to work," Sam said, rubbing his hands together to pick the next song. "Let's change the mood up in here." The song changed and Sam got on the microphone. "Okay, party people. One more time, give it up for the night shift!"

Everyone went out to the dance floor and started dancing to have a good time before their next shift would start.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Aftermath**

Finn woke up before his alarm clock went over and rolled over in bed, expecting to find Rachel still asleep. Instead, he rolled over on top of a suitcase and a pile of clothes. "Rach?" he asked sleepily.

"Sorry. Did I wake you up?" she asked, turning around to look at him from where she was standing in front of her closet. "I thought I was being quiet."

"No, you're fine. I woke up on my own. What are you doing?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep so I made myself a cup of tea. And then I thought I should look over my speech for the conference Mercedes and I are going to and then that started stressing me out and I realized I hadn't even started packing and that started stressing me out so now I'm packing to avoid looking over my speech which is going to cause me stress."

Finn blinked a few times. "How long have you been up?"

"A few hours," Rachel said, pulling something out of the closet. "Do you think I should wear this for my speech?"

"Isn't Santana supposed to be the one to help you with this?"

"Well, she was but then she spent the night with Sam. Again, I might add. By the way, your phone was ringing earlier."

Finn rubbed his eyes again and reached out to grab his phone. He saw he had several unopened texts from his bookie and a missed call. His face lit up and he sat up in bed. "I gotta go," he said, walking over to where Rachel was standing. "I guess that's fine for the speech. Good luck at your conference. I'll see you when you get back," Finn said, kissing her cheek before he went downstairs to get his motorcycle helmet and shoes on to go get his bike back.

A few hours later, he rode up to the hospital on his bike and parked it next to Puck's car. "Oh no you didn't," Puck said, getting out of his car.

"Oh yes I did. I told you I'd buy it back," Finn replied, taking off his helmet.

"Rachel is not going to be happy."

"Rachel knows."

"Really? So she's cool with her baby daddy riding a donor-cycle?"

"No, I didn't say that. I said I told her I was gonna do it. Speaking of, does Quinn know that you're going to Dubai next month?"

"Not exactly. It hasn't come up."

"It hasn't come up because you haven't told her. Quinn is going to roast you."

"I'm just…waiting for the right time," Puck said, looking at Finn. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'm delaying because I know she's gonna be pissed. I don't blame her. But I have to go."

"Yeah, you do have to go. Ali saved your life. You owe him. You know it and so does Quinn."

"I'm just waiting for the right time to tell her."

"I don't know if there is a right time," Finn said, opening the door to the hospital.

When the two of them walked in, they heard a reporter on the TV talking about Kurt saving his colonel's life. "The assailant opened fire on military personnel and their families at a promotion ceremony. Eye witnesses report a local hero and active serviceman sprang into action and tackled the gunman to the floor. Doctor Kurt Hummel then courageously wrestled the gun out of his hands."

Sam turned his attention away from the TV and saw Kurt walking down the hallway. "Hey, San Antonio's own Superman!" he said as everyone started clapping.

"Not interested. Puck, what's coming in?"

"It's your call, Doctor Badass. Abdominal rupture, trauma one. Hemorrhoids, curtain three."

Finn reached for the abdominal rupture but Kurt grabbed it first. "So I get the hemorrhoids?"

"Not if you're careful," Puck said, handing Finn the clipboard. "Artie, there's a knee pain in the waiting room," Puck said, handing the clipboard to Artie who just showed up behind the nurses' station. He watched Artie walk off and turned to Finn. "Hey, Finn, do me a favor. With Rachel out at the conference, will you keep an eye on Artie tonight?"

"Yeah, of course," Finn said, walking off to help his patient.

Puck's phone started ringing and he reached into his scrubs pocket to pull it out. "Hey Simone. Wait, what's going on? Why?"

"Puck!" Santana called as she entered the ER with a patient. "32-year-old man with a deep laceration to the arm."

"Trauma two," he called back. "He just came in the door, I'll see you soon," he said over the phone. "Jesse, you're with me. Brent, what happened? How do you feel?"

"Stupid mostly."

"You know each other?" Santana asked.

"We live down the street from each other. What happened?"

"I was working at the diner and next thing I know I cut my arm."

"His pulse is 115, BP is 80 over 42. We started a saline bolus in the field."

"Simone's on her way," Puck said. "I guess you left her quite a message."

"Only that I was headed to the ER."

"So soothing," Puck said. "Heather, grab some O-neg from the bank. "We're gonna fix you right up, brother."

Artie walked into his patient's exam room. "I just checked with x-ray. Kaley is up next. Where is she?"

"She stepped out for a second," her mom said.

"I'm right here," Kaley said, hobbling into the room.

"I thought you said you needed to use the bathroom."

"I did. But…the vending machines was on the way."

"Kaley," her mother scolded. "I swear, I don't allow her to eat processed sugar."

"Sorry," Kaley said, getting into the hospital bed. "I'm just nervous. You know what getting into this play means to me."

"Don't be so hard on yourself."

"Well, how about we make sure you don't have to hobble onto the stage, okay?" Artie said. "I think it's because your tendonitis is flaring up. I'll give you a prescription for ibuprofen and we'll do the x-ray just to be safe."

Finn walked into the exam room and smiled. "Hi, I'm Doctor Hudson. Everything good here?"

"Yeah, I was just letting Kaley know that I think her tendonitis is coming back. The excess weight is putting pressure on her joints."

"We're working on our diet and trying to work out," her mother said.

"Excuse me, we're ready for the x-rays," Heather said, bringing in a wheel chair. "That is a cute dress," she said to Kaley.

"Thank you."

In Brent's trauma room, Santana was showing them what happened. "Someone else must have done it but it's spot on," she said.

"This is an Army tactical tourniquet. Chuck Norris here travels to bases all around the country training our troops," Puck said.

"Looks like I'm gonna be out of commission for awhile."

"Puck will fix you right up. I gotta go, I'm out on another call," Santana said.

"I feel like an idiot for calling 911. I tried to dry it myself but the arm wouldn't cooperate."

"You did the right thing. Treatment plan, Jesse?"

"Irrigate the wound and test for nerve and vessel damage. Suture the multiple layers, check for tetanus and prophylaxis and start antibiotics."

"Yes, after morphine. We want to make sure he's comfortable first."

"Simone is going to kill me," Brent said.

"Oh, that's right. Your wedding's in a few weeks."

"And I look like I just walked out of one of those Saw movies."

Mercedes and Rachel were on the road headed to the conference. "So, when I started my residency, on any given night, you would have half a dozen shootings, stabbings, a steady flow of crack addicts, I mean it was great. For learning," Rachel said, correcting herself quickly.

"Of course. For learning," Mercedes said. "No wonder you're so calm under pressure."

"To be honest with you, if you want to know what makes me not so calm, it's this speech I have to deliver in front of like half of my mentors. It's freaking me out."

"You'll do great," Mercedes said with a smile on her face. "Thank you so much for inviting me to this conference. Outside of you, it's hard to find good female role models when you're working the night shift."

"Tell me about it," Rachel said. She watched a motorcycle speed past them and she shook her head. "You're gonna meet a lot of great people."

Mercedes gasped when she noticed the rider lose control of his bike as he veered off the road. "Oh my god," she said, starting to unbuckle her seatbelt as Rachel pulled off to the side.

"Call 911."

The two of them started down the embankment. "There's still no reception," Mercedes said.

"Keep trying," Rachel said as she looked for the crash victim. "I see him!" She went over to where he was and checked for a pulse. "His pulse is weak. We need to roll him over and check his airway and his c-spine."

"I'll get the head if you get the side," Mercedes said. "One, two, three." They rolled him over and did a brief check. "C-spine is intact."

Rachel started to unbutton his shirt and saw blood spilling out from his abdomen. "Damn, this is bad. We need to stop the bleeding now."

"He needs to get out of here," Mercedes said, looking around for the best way to get him to a hospital.

Back at San Antonio Memorial, Finn and Sam were talking. "So, I see you got your Harley back," Sam said. "I thought Rachel would never allow that."

"Sam, I'm not sure how you handled your relationships but with Rachel—"

He was cut off by the elevator doors opening. "Help! Help!" Kaley's mom said.

"What happened?" Finn asked, running towards the elevators.

"I don't know, she just started seizing," Artie said.

"Sam, grab a gurney."

Back in Brent's room, he was coughing and Jesse was taking his temperature. "Temp is 103. And persistent cough."

"I've been fighting the flu for a couple of weeks. That's probably why I got lightheaded with the saw in my hands."

"Is the light bothering your eyes?" Puck asked.

"I wouldn't say bothering but I notice it."

"Any headaches?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

"Brent, it's me. No time to be a tough guy. I need to know if you have a headache or not."

Brent sighed. "Yeah. For a few weeks now."

Jesse and Puck shared a look. "I'd like to do a spinal tap," Puck said.

"Why?"

"Because a fever, headache and light sensitivity may indicate something much more serious than the flu."

"Temp is spiking. 104 and climbing," Jesse said.

"We need to do this now," Puck said as Brent sighed.

Outside the room, Finn, Artie and Sam were rushing to get Kaley to a room to stop the seizure. "Kaley, we're gonna turn you to your side to keep your airway unobstructed. Artie, get her 10 of diazepam."

"Did I miss something?"

"Knee pain doesn't usually cause a seizure but—"

"Seizure?" Kaley's mom said. "I don't know what happened! She just was fine."

"She's gonna be okay," Finn said.

Back in Brent's room, Puck was giving him the spinal tap. "Just hold still, brother. I know it's uncomfortable but you're doing great."

"I came as soon as I could," someone said, coming into the trauma room.

"Hey, Simone," Puck said.

"What the hell? My god, Brent, you said you just cut yourself."

"I did and they stitched me up good. I'm fine."

"If you can, could you just hold the discussion for a few more moments?" Puck asked.

"Well, sorry Puck, but there's a gigantic needle in his spine. What's going on?"

"Babe, let him do his job."

Puck pulled the needle out and handed it to Heather. "Take this to lab, please?"

"Of course."

"Alright, here's where we're at," Puck said as Brent laid back down. "We expect the arm to heal nicely. There wasn't any nerve damage from the saw. But you have symptoms of meningitis. We'll know for sure once we get the spinal tap results."

"Oh my god, that's serious, right?"

"It can be. But we've started him on antibiotics in case it's bacterial."

"In case?" Simone asked. "Are you guessing?"

"Simone, please," Brent said.

"Sorry if I'm concerned about the health of my soon-to-be-husband. Is that a crime?"

"No. But this can be any number of things. Let's get the labs first and we'll go from there," Puck said.

In the lobby, the reporter was still talking about Kurt on TV. "People say Kurt Hummel's heroics go further than the trauma room. In his personal life, Hummel cared for his boyfriend after a leg amputation."

Kurt grabbed the remote from the nurses' station desk and turned the TV off. "Don't they have any real news to report?"

"That was real news," Sam said. "You are a hero. People like knowing there's guys like you out there."

"Yeah, too many people. The last day and a half, I've had random guys cyber-hitting on me, women trying to convert me, some people trying to shame me out of the military."

"So now's probably not a good time to let you know that local TV channels are expressing interest in interviewing you."

"Tell them I'm not talking to anybody and I just want to be left alone," Kurt said, signing something one of the nurses handed him.

"I'm not trying to tell you as your secretary. I'm just telling you what they said."

Kurt shook his head and looked in the waiting room, seeing a picture of him and Blaine on the TV screen. He shook his head and called Blaine, going straight to voicemail. "Blaine, it's me. I don't know if you've seen the news but if you have, sorry you got dragged into this. I don't know how they got that picture of us, I don't know how they found out, but I hope you're well."

Finn walked over to where Kaley's mom was and started giving her an update. "So Kaley had what's called a grand mal seizure. But she's stable now."

"What could have caused that?"

"We won't know until we've run more tests," Finn said.

"Can I see her?"

"Yeah. Jocelyn? Can you join us?" Finn asked as they walked into Kaley's room, seeing her eating a large bowl of mac 'n' cheese.

"Honey, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Mom. I can't stop. I'm starving."

"How can you still be hungry? You ate a full meal."

"Kaley, can I examine your stomach?" Finn asked.

"I don't know what to do," her mom said. "She just keeps eating, no matter what I do. What's going on?"

Outside of the waiting room, Kurt was sitting by himself, thinking about everything that had happened the last few days. He heard two kids start laughing. "Faggot," one of them said.

"Hey!" Kurt said, standing up as he walked into the waiting room.

"What did we do?" one of the kids asked.

"Watch your mouth." He glared at them as he walked and ran a hand through his hair.

Mercedes and Rachel folded down the backseats of her car and laid their crash victim on top of them. Mercedes jumped into the front seat and started driving as Rachel worked on him in the back. "Drive fast, Mercedes, he's bleeding like crazy," Rachel said. "Pupils are equal and reactive."

"That's a good sign."

"Hey, welcome back," Rachel said as the motorcyclist started to wake up.

"Where am I?"

"You were in an accident. Can you tell me your name?" Rachel asked as she tried feeling for any broken bones he might have.

"Joe. Joe Collins."

"Okay, Joe, I need you to stay with me. I'm Doctor Berry and that's Doctor Jones, driving us to the hospital. I'm gonna give you something for your pain."

"Good. Because it's killing me."

"Mercedes, look in my glove box, there should be Benadryl. Hand it to me and tell me why."

She reached into the glove box and handed her the box. "It's an antihistamine but it can be used as a local anesthetic. Do you need a syringe?"

"I've got one back here. If you inject it near the wound, it blocks the pain," Rachel said, doing that as she talked. "Joe, I'm sorry that's it's burning, but I need you to be strong so we can fix you. Can you do that for me?"

"There's still no reception and we're a good 40 miles away from the nearest hospital."

"Just keep flooring it," Rachel said.

In Kaley's room, Finn was typing something on the computer. "And you just feel like you can't stop eating? You're powerless?"

"Because I'm always starving."

"So you never feel full?"

"Not really. On a scale of one to ten, my hunger is a 20."

"I know what you're thinking," her mom said. "You see me overweight and think 'like mother, like daughter.' But I try to feed her fruits and vegetables."

Finn turned around and shook his head. "We're not thinking anything, ma'am."

"She started gaining weight when her dad and I spilt up. Her counselor at school thinks her overeating is a coping mechanism. We've tried everything: low-carb, no-carb, Zone…"

"Well, it sounds like you're doing everything right," Finn said. "We're only asking these questions so we can try and help Kaley."

"Any illnesses or surgeries?" Artie asked.

"No. She's always been a really healthy kid. Actually, she has her dad's body. He's thin. And then a few years ago, she started getting bigger."

"She's trying to say that's when I morphed into fatty pork chops."

"Please, Kay, don't talk about yourself that way."

"Yeah, you really shouldn't."

"Let's just stick to the task at hand, which is trying to figure out why Kaley had her seizures," Finn said. "We're gonna run some blood work and an MRI and we'll work it out.

"Where do I know you from?" one of the homeless patients asked Kurt as he was doing an exam on him.

"Well, you've been in here a dozen times over the past couple of years so I'd start with that," Kurt said.

"No, that's not it," he said, thinking for a moment. "Wait, you're that guy!"

"Yeah, I'm a guy. Open up."

"No, that guy that kicked that other dude's ass when he was shooting at people. Right? Am I right? I know I'm right."

"Sir, you're right," Kurt said. "Just stick out your tongue so we can finish the exam."

"Actually, can I have another doctor?"

"Why do you want another doctor?" Kurt asked, taking a step back.

"I don't feel comfortable having a gay dude touch me. Nothing personal. It gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"Let me get this straight. You, a homeless drug addict, has a problem with me touching you."

"Yeah. I don't want you near my junk."

"You have a sore throat. I'm not going anywhere near your junk."

"I want a new doctor."

"Fine. I'll put you back in the queue," Kurt said taking off his gloves.

He walked into a locker room and shut the door. He took a deep breath and turned around, pulling a shelf down to let out his anger.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sam asked, coming into the locker room. "Kurt, what's going on, man?"

"No good deed goes unpunished. You try to do something good and the media – they just grab it and spoil it."

"What are you talking about?"

"I just got kicked out of an exam room by a homeless guy. Because he didn't want a gay doctor touching him. I treated that guy thousands of times and didn't have a problem with it. But now that he knows…"

"He's just one deluded junkie," Sam said, putting the shelf back up.

"It's not gonna be just one guy. There's gonna be more. You know it. I'm just a gay doctor to everyone."

"So?"

"How'd you like to be the male nurse?"

"I am a male nurse. And?"

Kurt sighed and sat down on one of the benches. "I just want my privacy back. I want my life back and I don't want any part of this."

"Look, Kurt, I know you're a private guy, but I'm sorry. That ship has sailed. Ever since you came out last year, it's like you got one foot still in the closet."

"What are you some kind of expert now?"

"I am when it comes to one of my best friends. You gotta stop hiding behind this privacy thing and step up and use this opportunity to let people know who you are."

"That's not who I am!"

"This is who you are! That is who you are. You served your country. You took care of troops in battle. You're a doctor. You, my friend, are a caregiver, from the very bottom of that thing beating inside your chest. And you have a responsibility to be counted. A responsibility to fight this bigotry head on. Not just for yourself, but more importantly, for those who can't." Sam got up from where he was sitting, gave Kurt a pat on the back and walked out of the locker room.

Back on the road, things weren't looking well for Mercedes or Rachel. "We're losing his pulse. The bleeder must be in the retroperitoneal. I think his aorta is leaking," Rachel said.

"I'm driving as fast as I can," Mercedes said.

"I need something to simulate an aortic-abdominal tourniquet," Rachel said, looking around the back of her car for something to use. I could use the seatbelt. I need to apply pressure into the wound."

"You need something inflatable, right? If you look in the plastic bag on the floor, I bought toys for my niece. There's a water balloon launcher."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"This balloon better work," Rachel muttered. "Stay with me, Joe. This is gonna hurt a little, but it's gonna help. This should hold him for now but I really need to open him up ASAP."

"You can't open him up in the back!"

"Well, we're going to have to do it somewhere or he's going to die."

Back at the hospital, Puck went into Brent's room to see how he was doing. "Hey, the prelim spinal tap results do look like bacterial meningitis but we're still waiting for the cultures. You're already getting antibiotics but you should start to feel better soon."

"His temp's going up. It's 106," Heather said.

"Going up? Is he getting the right dose of the meds?"

"My legs are going numb," Brent said to Puck as he started checking the IV."

"Puck, is that normal?" Simone asked.

"It's not bacterial. He's not responding to antibiotics."

"What's wrong with him?"

"That's what we're going to find out. Let's give him steroids and add an anti-viral."

"Could it be something he picked up in a foreign country?" Simone asked, causing Brent to glare at her.

"Is there something you should be telling me?" Puck asked.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"No. I'm not being quiet here. You came home and started feeling sick so just tell him where you were."

"I know you were at Fort Bragg recently. Did you also leave the country?" Puck asked.

"Brent, just tell him where you really were," Simone said. She looked over at Puck. "He was overseas."

"Simone!"

"He's Special Ops, he's not a roving instructor. He won't tell me anything – he can't tell me anything. It's his job and I get it but this started when he came back. And now he's sick. I'm sorry we kept this a secret."

"Right now, anything you say could help," Puck said. "You know me. Nothing you say leaves this room."

Brent sighed and looked at Puck. "My best buddy Troy and I…we were just hanging out. Talking about how terrible everything was. It all sucks. Our humvee got hit by an IED. It killed everyone."

"Oh Brent…"

"This is why I don't tell you things. I mean, I know I can't. I walked away with minor damage. I had shrapnel in my upper chest and neck. They got the metal out in the center there."

"How long ago was that?" Puck asked.

"Six weeks."

"Does that help?" Simone asked.

"Yeah. I think it might. We're gonna get you an MRI and more x-rays," Puck said as he left the trauma room.

On the road, Mercedes saw an animal hospital and pulled up to it. Rachel got out of the car and ran inside. "I need your biggest gurney and an OR. Now!" she said to the guy at the reception desk.

Back at the hospital, Kurt was on the phone with someone. "How did you get my number? No, I'm not doing any interviews. Stop calling me and don't call the ER because we're trying to get some work done here." He angrily hung up his phone and went over to look at some paperwork at the nurses' station. He signed something as his phone started vibrating again. He slammed his pen down on the desk and glared at his phone.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?" someone asked from behind him.

Kurt froze and turned around to see Blaine standing in the hospital. "Blaine?"

"So you recognize me. That's a good start."

"Yeah," Kurt said. "Let me find someone to cover for me and we can talk."

The elevators opened and Santana stepped out with Sam. "But do you eat anything besides grits?"

"Why would I? We're talking about cheese, bacon, green onions, smoked sausage…I can eat that morning, noon and night."

Santana started laughing. "Okay. But next time, I'm picking the restaurant."

"As long as they've got grits, that's all I care about," Sam said, answering the phone at the nurses' station. "Emergency med...whoa, slow down. Who are you?" Sam listened for a few seconds. "Where's this? Got it."

"What's going on?"

"Rachel and Mercedes brought in a MVA to an animal clinic out on 281. I need a medevac, stat."

Santana sighed. "Alright. I'm heading out. Call me with the address."

In radiology, Kaley was getting her scans done. "Just keep breathing, Kaley," Finn said over the microphone. "It's only gonna be for a little bit longer." He stepped away from the microphone and looked at Artie. "There's your lesson for the night. Never let your bias show in the exam room."

"All I saw was a girl with knee problems because she was overweight."

"Yeah, as did I. Her mother was right. I judged her and her mother. I just saw an obese girl eating candy and never considered there could be something else. I could've asked a hundred questions and I didn't."

"You think it could be the seizures?" Artie asked.

Finn shrugged. "You never know. But I know we won't make the same mistake again."

"She's such a cool kid."

"Son of a bitch," Finn said, looking at her scans as they came up. "Look at that," he said, pointing at something on the screen.

"Oh man."

At the animal hospital, Mercedes rolled a cart next to Rachel as she kept working on the motorcyclist. "I called my owner. He said I can't let you guys in here."

"I just gave him 10 of morphine. Any propofel?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah, it's for the big dogs. It's over here," the worker said, sighing. He was going to be in big trouble for this.

"Give it me. 80 milligrams?" Mercedes asked Rachel.

"Hey, don't go anywhere. We're gonna need your help," Rachel said, stopping him from leaving.

"I can't. I just do animals. If it's an emergency, I call the vet."

Rachel sighed. "What's your name?"

"Carl."

"Propofel in," Mercedes said.

"Okay, Carl, you're freaking out. And I don't blame you. But we need to help this kid pull through or I'm going to have to call his mother and tell her he died. Now tell me, would you want your mother to get that kind of phone call about you?"

"No way. She'd go nuts."

"That's what I thought," Rachel said as she went back to working on Joe. "So, you're going to have to take a deep breath, get a hold of yourself because you are going to help us save this kid."

"Okay, I'm in. Just don't make me touch anything."

"Mercedes, you just finished your surgical rotation. Are you ready to do this?"

"Hand me a 10-blade," she said calmly. "Take the incision down to the rectus bone. Deep breath, Carl," she said, looking over at him.

Back at the hospital, Artie and Finn were talking to Kaley's mom. "So, you see this white area here?" Finn asked, pointing to a spot on the iPad screen. "It's a tumor on her pituitary gland, pushing on her hypothalamus."

"A tumor? Oh my god, Kaley has brain cancer."

"No, don't think of it that way. The mass is probably benign, but it has grown and it's probably what caused the seizure which is why we need to have it removed as soon as possible."

"The good news is we believe the tumor is the cause of her insatiable appetite," Artie said. "It's called hypothalamic obesity."

"That's good news?"

"The tumor's in the part of the brain that tell us when we're hungry and when we're not. I believe that's why she's always starving."

"So when it's removed, her appetite will return to normal," Finn said.

"But brain surgery…"

"I know it sounds scary. But they go right through the nose and take it out," Finn said, trying to reassure her. "It's relatively simple and can fix what's wrong. It takes about an hour."

In the break room, Kurt and Blaine were talking. "I saw the news coverage on you. The past couple of days are so…on us."

"I meant what I said in the voicemail. I didn't give them the picture of us."

"Kurt—"

"I didn't talk to them about us."

"Kurt, I don't care about the damn picture. I can only imagine the hell the past couple of days have been for you."

"It's beyond my worst nightmare," Kurt said, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Which is why I hopped on the last red eye. That's why I didn't return your calls. I was flying."

"So you flew here to be with me?"

"No, I came back for the great hospital food," Blaine said sarcastically. "What do you think? Look, when I left, I had to get my life together. I had to think some things through."

"Well, you've been through a lot."

"Yeah. I had to rethink and redefine who I am. I had to set things right with my parents. My mom, she kinda always knew. Dad, uh, he's getting there."

"That's great. I mean, I know how heavily that weighed on you."

"You know what else weighed heavily on me?" Blaine asked. "Us. I realized how much I need you in my life. I want us to be together again."

"So do I."

"But it can't be like it was before. I'm out. My platoon, they don't care. I bled with them, I almost died with them, they're my brothers."

"So what do not like it was before?"

"I mean when we're together around other people."

"All my friends, they know about you."

"I'm not talking about here. In your safe cocoon, surrounded by your safe friends. I'm talking about in the world. I'm talking about us…standing ten feet apart when we get a hotel room on vacation or not sitting beside each other at the movie theater…or holding each other's hand."

"I'm a private person."

"That's what I used to tell myself too. God, life is too short and feels so good to just live and not worry about what other people think. I wanna be with you. I want to stop worrying about what the rest of the world thinks. I can't live like that anymore. I just can't."

The door to the break room opened and Sam stepped in. "Sorry gents. Kurt, I got a toe laceration for you in curtain four."

"Alright, I'll be right there."

Sam nodded. "Good seeing you, Blaine."

"You too, Sam." Blaine turned back to face Kurt. "Anyway, um, I said what I came to say. So, let me know," he said, cupping Kurt's face. He gave him one last look and left the break room.

"Puck!" Jesse called. "I just got off the phone with the American consulate in Dubai. They are processing on your visa, but they're still working on Ali's."

"Thanks for taking care of that," Puck said.

"No problem."

"Any word on Rachel and Mercedes?"

"No, not since the guy from the animal hospital called freaking out. Santana just headed out, but that's all I know. Oh, trauma scans for Brent just came in," Jesse said, beckoning him over to the computers. He showed Puck the various x-rays and Puck stopped him on the neck x-ray.

"Look at that. There is it," Puck said, pointing to a spot on the screen. "That's a foreign body. Brent was in an explosion."

"That's shrapnel? It looks like bone."

"Good eye. It is."

"You said it was a foreign body?"

"I did. It's not his," Puck said as he started walking towards Brent's trauma room. He typed something on the computer keyboard and showed it to Brent and Simone. "There's Troy."

"Oh my god. From the explosion, right?" Simone asked.

"I've seen a lot of things embedded in soldier's bodies but never this," Brent said.

"It's called bioshrapnel. It's probably the source of your infection. We need to get you to surgery as soon as possible to extract it and send it to the lab."

"So, he's going to be okay now?" Simone asked.

"He's not out of the woods yet. We need to do a blood transfusion. The infection caused your body to start breaking down," Puck explained.

"We're going to need excess blood on hand in case there's bleeding during the procedure," Jesse said.

"Take mine. I mean, I don't know if I'm the same blood type as he is but—"

"Honey," Brent said. "You don't have to."

"No, I want to. I want to feel like I'm doing something to help you. It's okay, right, Puck?"

"It speeds up the process. Let's get her set up," he said to Jesse.

Back at the animal hospital, Rachel and Mercedes were working on Joe. "Suction," Rachel said.

"Man," Carl said. "If you two hadn't been there, he'd be out there dying in the desert."

"I know," Mercedes said. "If we left five minutes later, five minutes earlier, hit traffic or stopped for dinner we never would have seen him."

"Okay, I found the bleeder," Rachel said. "Get me a sponge stick so I can put pressure on."

"You clamp and I'll suture," Mercedes said.

"Whoa!" Santana said, coming in. "Someone call for a medevac?"

"You are a sight for sore eyes," Rachel said.

"OR is standing by. We should be there in about 20 minutes."

"Good. Let's get him out of here," Rachel said as Mercedes finished up. "Carl, you did great. Thank you."

"So…you guys have boyfriends or…"

"Yeah. We do," Rachel said as she started laughing.

Outside of Kaley's room, Finn was talking to her mother. "Unfortunately, even though the tumor removal was successful, the underlying tissue was damaged."

"So, what does that mean?"

"Because of the damage, she'll continue to gain weight which will lead to more severe complications."

"How much more severe?"

"Well, she won't be able to control her eating and if left untreated," Finn said, pausing. "She will basically eat herself to death.

"Oh my god. What do we do?"

"She needs gastric bypass surgery. It's a lap-band, which constricts the stomach and limits food intake. It makes the patient feel full."

"Well, let's do it."

"The only problem is that there's a two month waiting list here."

"Two months? But you just said she's eating herself to death."

"I know," Finn said, sighed.

"Can't you do it?"

"It's a surgical procedure I'm not trained in."

"So, you're saying I just have to watch her die?"

Out in the lobby, Santana was bringing in Joe with Rachel and Mercedes following behind. "Let's go. We need to get him to the OR."

Finn walked out and saw them coming in. "Rachel? Rough night?" he asked, noticing the blood on her shirt.

"Yeah. I've had better."

"You should have seen your girl in action," Mercedes said. "Total bad ass."

"Not so bad yourself," Rachel said, smiling at her. "Listen, I need to get to the OR and don't think I didn't see your bike sitting out there."

"I told you I was gonna buy it back."

"No, you said we'd discuss it."

"We can discuss it but I already bought it."

Rachel stopped walking and turned around to face him. "We will talk about this." She poked him in the chest and started walking again.

Finn sighed and walked towards the nurses' station. "Doctor Klein," he said, finding who he was looking for. "I spoke to your assistant who said your schedule for lap-band surgery is booked up for the next two months."

"Life is good."

"Yeah, see, I have a patient that requires surgery right away. She's got morbid obesity, causing heart strain, could lead to failure and it'd be a big favor if you could bump her up."

"Stop right there, Hudson. I'm not a fan of your cowboy antics. And my surgery department doesn't work that way. Get in line like everybody else," Klein said as he walked off.

Finn frowned as Puck walked up. "I figured that's a no-go, getting Kaley to cut in line for the lap-band?"

"I'll figure it out," Finn said, drinking his coffee.

"I put calls into some clinics but that may take a few days," Puck said as they started walking. "You know, it's too bad you can't bribe him or blackmail him because I hear he's a bit of a dick."

"Thanks, man," Finn said, going into the break room.

"Puck," Jesse said. "You need to see this. It's Brent's blood results." He handed Puck the iPad and Puck sighed.

He walked into the exam room where Simone was drinking some orange juice after the blood draw. "Hey," she said, smiling when she saw him come in. "Brent still in surgery?"

"We just moved him to recovery so you can go see him when he wakes up."

"Good. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Simone, there's something else we need to talk about," Puck said, sitting down on one of the chairs. "We know the meningitis is fungal and fungal meningitis happens to patients with suppressed immune systems. I'm sorry, there's no easy way to say this, but Brent has HIV."

"What?"

"And your blood was screened when you donated. Simone, you have it too. This is an unexpected bombshell, I know, but it's important to understand that HIV is no longer a death sentence."

"I don't understand. If we both have it, why am I not sick?"

"You may never be. Look at Magic Johnson. It's really just a sad luck of the draw."

"Is it possible that he got it from the bioshrapel – from the bone?"

"We checked military autopsy records and Brent's buddy was HIV negative so he didn't get it from Troy. It's none of my business and he could have contracted it any number of ways, but I know what it's like to be overseas and it's tough."

"Brent didn't cheat."

"He's a good man, I know. I'm just saying that being so far from home for so long and under pressure."

"Brent didn't cheat. I did," Simone said. "I know, I'm a horrible person."

"I'm not here to judge you. But I'm here to help you."

"He's just gone for months and months at a time. I never know when he's leaving or when he's going or when he's coming back. We had to lie to our family, to our friends, to you and Quinn. It's just…it's just so much pressure. He can't even talk about what he's done."

"I know this is difficult and I know it's delicate, but you will have to tell him what you've done. And tell everyone you've been with."

"It was one guy. It was one time, I swear. Just a couple of months ago on New Year's Eve. I was so lonely. Oh god, what did I do?" Simone asked as Puck gave her a hug.

In Kaley's room, she was starting to get sick as Finn and Sam walked into the room. "What's happening?" Finn asked.

"She's been vomiting for five minutes. I'm thinking gastroparesis," Artie said.

"What's that mean?"

"It means she can't hold anything down," Finn said. "Sam, get her something to stop the vomiting."

"They still won't move her up after this?" her mom asked.

"I'll figure it out. I promise," Finn said.

Outside of Joe's hospital room, Rachel and Mercedes were on the phone with his mom. "Well, he definitely dodged a bullet and he's resting comfortably now," Rachel said. "Yeah, of course we'll let her know too." She hung up the phone and looked at Mercedes. "Those are definitely the better phone calls to make."

"Definitely."

Finn walked out of Kaley's room and ran a hand over his face. "Hey, Jocelyn. Look, I know you're pretty plugged in to all the gossip around here."

"It's a fun hobby," she said.

"I bet. Got anything on Doctor Klein? The lap-band surgeon? He's being a real dick to my patient and I need anything you can give me."

Her face lit up. "Oh, I've got something. I've got something good."

Outside of Brent's room, Puck and Jesse were watching as Simone told him everything that happened. "Those two have a long road ahead of them," Jesse said.

"Nice couple. It just goes to show you don't know what's going on in other people's lives. Hope they can work through it."

"I don't know if I could."

"It's not your typical cheating situation. It's hard for the wives, girlfriends and partners over here. They stay home and they pay a price too. Sometimes we forget that. I know I did."

"Really?" Jesse asked. "You cheat?"

"No. I was lucky to find Quinn. I'm not blowing that. I'm just saying sometimes not appreciating your wife the way you should…we're a team," Puck said.

Finn knocked on the wall outside of the scrub room to get Doctor Klein's attention. "Hudson. My assistant and I already told you it's a two month waiting list."

"Right," Finn said, coming into the scrub room. "Your assistant. She's cute. I hear you pay her to do little dances for you after hours. Rumor has it the nurses call you Doctor Lap Dance."

"What?"

"You don't have to admit anything to me but it's your wife I'm worried about. How much does divorce cost these days?"

"You son of a bitch. You wouldn't have the balls."

Finn ripped a paper towel out of the dispenser. "I would. See, my patient needs surgery today. Not in two months. So if you do the surgery today, I'll forget everything I know. If not, I'm gonna have to call your wife right now."

"Get her prepped. I'll get to her when I can."

"Actually, she's already prepped. Because I figured you would say yes. Jocelyn, Artie," Finn said, gesturing to outside the scrub room where they were taking her into an OR.

"You kept your promise," she said.

"Damn right. And I will be there for your next play, okay?" Artie said.

"You better keep your mouth shut, Hudson."

"Professional courtesy," Finn said as he left the scrub room. "Thanks Jocelyn."

"No problem. He's a pig," she said, giving him a smile.

As the shift came to a close, Sam ran up to Santana. "So, I was thinking."

"That could be dangerous."

"Oh, this is very dangerous. My sister is coming into town next weekend and I was thinking about introducing you."

"Ah, the sister test. What happens if I fail, does that mean you have to get a new girlfriend?"

"So you're officially my girlfriend now?" Sam asked.

"It's a figure of speech. I meant friend who happens to be a girl," Santana said.

"No, it's cool. That's how I'll introduce you. This is Santana, my friend who happens to be a girl," Sam said, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Thank you so much," Kaley's mom said, giving Finn a hug.

"You're welcome. She's a great kid. She deserves a better life and now hopefully she'll have it. You can check on her later. She should be in recovery soon."

Blaine walked into a bar after Kurt's shift ended and walked over to where he was sitting. "Hey," Blaine said with a small smile.

"Thanks for coming," Kurt said.

"Thanks for asking. You sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah. I'm sure," Kurt said, leading him over to a part of the bar where the reporter had a video camera set up to record the interview. "Hi. I'm Captain Kurt Hummel."

"It's nice to meet you," she said with a smile on her face, shaking his hand before turning to Blaine to shake his. "I appreciate you doing this. Please, have a seat."

Once Kurt and Blaine got situated, she started the interview. "I'm here with Doctor Kurt Hummel, the hero who risked his own life to stop the shooting from happening just a few days ago," she said into the camera. She turned to face the two of them. "Can you tell us about it, doctor?"

"I just did what any other soldier would do. It just happened to be me. But I firmly believe the men and women I served with would have done the same thing," Kurt said, turning towards Blaine. "My partner, Blaine, would have done the same thing as well," Kurt said, reaching out to take his hand. "I was just trying to do what was right."

"And this man sitting next to you, your partner, Army Captain Blaine Anderson. Please, tell me what went through your head when you heard the news?"

"Well, honestly, my first thought was that stupid idiot," Blaine said as everyone started to laugh. "But, of course, he behaved exactly like I knew he would. Just like the way we train for these things," Blaine said, looking at Kurt with a smile on his face.

At the end of the shift, Puck and Finn were walking out of the hospital and talking like always. "So, what are your big plans today, Doctor?" Finn asked.

"Well, I got my mom to watch the kids so Quinn and I are headed out for a picnic. I figure it's time to tell her about my trip to Dubai."

"That's my boy. Just rip the Band-Aid right off."

"Oh no. You gotta remove it gently. That way it doesn't cause more pain," Puck said, looking over at Finn's motorcycle and saw Rachel leaning on it. "Looks like your Band-Aid's still on."

"She is not happy."

"Gotta say, I'm on her side," Puck said. He started walking towards his car and laid a reassuring hand on Rachel's shoulder.

She gave Puck a small smile before turning her attention to Finn with a pinched look on her face.

Finn gave her a sheepish look as he set his backpack on the ground. "Hey."

"So my motorcycle guy pulled through," Rachel said.

"Yeah, thanks to you," Finn said.

"But I'm more worried about this motorcycle guy," Rachel said, pointing at him. "I am not trying to change you. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Nothing's going to happen to me."

"You don't know that," Rachel said as tears started to form in her eyes. "People say those kinds of things and then bam! You can't control the other guy."

"I love this bike. I love how this bike makes me feel when I ride it. I love working on this bike. But I love you too. How about a compromise? I'll only ride it on the weekends," Finn said, resting his hands on her cheeks.

"Babe, this is not about the bike," Rachel said, pushing his hands away as she started crying.

"I thought this was about the bike?"

"No," she said, standing up. "This is about responsibility, okay? I have a child – our child – growing inside of me and it is changing me. I am changing. And I thought it was just going to be physical but I'm finding out that it is way, way bigger than that."

"Yeah, I can see that," Finn said, scratching his forehead.

"I have all these hormones. And they're just raging and flying all over the place. And I don't know I was out there tonight and I just felt this momma lion—" Rachel said, pausing to take a deep breath to try and breathe.

"Momma lion?"

"Don't you dare make fun of me!" she said, poking him. "I saw this kid. And I saw his boyish face and I thought about his mother. And then I thought about the fact that I am going to be a mother and it all kicked in. And I hate this bike. And I don't want you to get rid of it if you don't want to get rid of it but I want you to _want_ to get rid of it, not because I asked you to get rid of it."

Finn let out the air he was holding in. "So you want me to give up the bike?"

"No! Are you even listening to me?" Rachel said as she started crying even harder.

"Yeah, it's a good idea."

"I just want to go home."

"Okay, let's go home," Finn said.

Rachel started crying harder. "I left my car at the animal hospital."

"Well, we can just take my bike," Finn said, wrapping his arms around her.

"You're not funny."

"I called a cab," he whispered.

"You did? Really?"

"Yeah. Yeah I did," Finn said, kissing her forehead.

"You really did? Thank you," Rachel said. "I love you so much."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Hold On**

At the start of another shift, Santana and Rachel were in the locker rooms getting ready for what would most likely end up being a busy night. "So he still has the bike?" Santana asked.

"He promises weekends only and then on Friday, he rides it to work," Rachel said, getting something from her locker. "He says that it's the start of the weekend."

"So you get pregnant and he goes back to being an adrenaline junkie?"

"That's who he is," Rachel said, slamming the locker shut. "Which is frustrating because he's obviously happy."

"What is this, 1950? Clearly, you're not happy."

"The bozo went base jumping two weekends ago. He went parasailing strapped to the back of an ATV. I mean, really, who does that?"

"So tell him to stop."

"I can't do that. He loves that stuff. I mean…he will resent me and I know I would resent him if he tried to change me."

"But you're not risking your life," Santana said, following her into the break room. "He has to be more responsible to you, right?"

"I agree. But it's the man I fell in love with, you know," she said, leaning against the fridge. "It's what made him different from the other guys I was dating."

"And that's fine if you are dating. But now he's gonna be a father. There has to be a middle ground, right?"

Rachel shrugged as she walked out of the break room with a bottle of water and headed towards the nurses' station. "We're still trying to find it."

"We're on it," Puck said, hanging up the phone. "Santana, MVA in Prospect Hill. Auto versus auto and it sounds bad."

"Okay, I'm on it. See you later."

"Catch you later," Rachel said as she went into a patient's room.

Sam started running after Santana. "Hey, wait up!"

"Hey, what are you doing here? Isn't it your night off?"

"Yeah but I wanna go on a ride along with you," Sam said as Santana started laughing. "No, I'm serious. Look, I already got Puck's permission. I just need yours now."

"Why do you wanna do this?"

"Because I'm the new charge nurse but I don't feel much in charge yet. I wanna experience what happens to the patients before they come to us."

"Careful what you wish for. It can get crazy out there."

"Well, if anything goes down I'll be there to protect you," Sam said with a smile.

"Oh please. I've seen things that'll make you wet your pants. I'm ready for anything," she said, handing him a medical bag. "Just make sure you don't slow me down."

"Yes!"

Across town, Finn and Kurt were getting out of another ambulance at a rodeo. "Hey, watch out for live wires," Kurt warned Finn as he almost stepped on one.

They kept walking to where one of the traumas were. "What's going on here?" Finn asked.

"We got one female with a leg laceration right over there," the firefighter said.

"Shane!" she kept calling. "Shane! Oh my god, you have to go help my boyfriend over there. He's trapped under the thing over there."

"Ma'am, I need you to be patient," Kurt said. "Everything is gonna be okay. What's your name?"

"My name's Lindsay."

"Okay, Lindsay, is anything else hurt?"

"No, just my leg," she said as more sparks flew from the lights.

Finn knelt down to his patient. "Sir, you've been impaled," he said. "Don't move."

"Yeah, I'm Shane McCoy. You seen me ride out there, didn't you? I could have ridden that bull until sunset, you know."

"Okay, I need you to stop talking, okay? You've lost a lot of blood and your heart is racing. I just need to push this off you. One, two…" Finn started pushing the light off him and Shane screamed out in pain.

As Finn pushed the light off him, more sparks started crackling and another set of lights got shaky. "Finn, move!" Kurt yelled.

The light fixture started falling as Finn looked up to see it. His eyes widened and he rolled to his side, hopefully to avoid being hit with the light. He saw a sharp prong headed straight towards him and he closed his eyes, hoping it wouldn't be the last thing he saw.

"Whoa!" he heard Shane say. Finn opened his eyes and saw the prong not even inches away from his neck. "What a rush. What a rush. That's bull riding son."

"Finn!" Kurt called, coming over to see if his friend was okay. "Holy…"

"Close call, huh?"

"Just…be careful."

Back at the hospital, Puck was talking with one of the nurses. "High time we got this started. Thank you."

"Hey, Puck?" Mercedes said, coming up to him in the hallway. "I just wanted to make sure that you got my application for my second year—"

"Chief resident spot. Yeah, I got yours and Artie's. Too bad there's only one slot for the two of you," he said, going into the break room.

"Ow!" Jesse called out as Rachel started laughing.

"What's this all about?" Puck asked.

"Jesse's taking his medical boards next week and they hooked him up to a neuro-stimulator to quiz him."

"Savages."

"No, it's his idea," Mercedes explained. "He wanted the motivation."

"Jesse, if you wanna be a big swinging doctor, you gotta handle the pressure," Rachel said.

"Ten causes of pancreatitis. Go!" Artie said.

"Gallstones, ethanol, trauma, drugs, mumps—"

"Faster!" Rachel said, giving him a shock.

"Steroids, autoimmune, hyperlipids—" Rachel gave him another shock. "Hey, I was right!"

"Sorry. Finger slipped," Rachel said with a smile.

The phone in the break room rang and Molly answered it. "Hello?"

Jesse ignored Rachel's comment and continued. "Idiopathic…you've got that look in your eyes. Don't do it." He jumped as Rachel shocked him again. "You had that on high, didn't you?"

"Puck," Molly said, handing him the phone.

"Scorpion stings," Rachel said, moving along with Jesse's practice.

"Okay, thanks," Puck said, hanging up the phone. "Fun's over, people. Multiple traumas coming in from the rodeo."

"I'll take incoming traumas in four," Rachel said, setting down the shocker.

"Jesse, Molly, get rooms ready," Puck called as he left the break room.

"Had it on high," Jesse said, looking at the shocker as he took off the sensors.

In other part of town, Santana and Sam pulled up to the scene of the car accident. "Arrest him!" someone yelled.

"Paramedic coming through! Make a way!"

"I'm not telling you again, get off of my son," someone said in the background.

Santana looked in one of the cars. "Where's the driver?"

"He's over here," one of the police officers said.

"You need to move. I'm not telling you again before I kick your ass," the same voice from before said.

"Sir, you need to step back," Sam said.

"He's the one who hit my boy. He's the driver."

"Brody?" Santana asked, noticing he was taking care of the crash victim.

"He's barely breathing," Brody said.

"Doctor Weston, you are really bleeding," Sam said, looking at the gashes on Brody's forehead.

"We need to get him out of here now," Brody said, ignoring Sam.

"That man should be in jail," someone said, pointing at Brody.

"Sam, I got this," Santana said, going over to the guy who kept getting in the way. "Listen to me carefully because I'm only gonna say this once. That man is a doctor. You want your son to live? You let us work and you let us get to the hospital."

"He hit my boy," his father said weakly.

"And now he's trying to help."

"I'm gonna need a statement from the driver," one of the police officers said.

"Can it wait for the hospital?" Sam asked.

The police officer nodded and started walking away, trying to clear a path so they could get the gurney through to head back to the hospital.

Back at the hospital, Finn and Kurt were coming in with traumas from the rodeo. "Alright people, let's move," Finn said, bringing Shane in first. "Male, 40s, severe puncture wounds to the lower flanks, severe bleeding and possible brain trauma."

"Man's a champ!" Shane said. "He saved my ass."

"Hang two units of O-neg and send off a trauma panel. Molly, take him to trauma four and notify CT," Finn said.

"Shane, how is he?" Lindsay asked as she was being brought in to the hospital.

"Still talking," Kurt said. "Female, 40s, deep leg lac, stable."

"Nice work, Kurt," Finn said, patting him on the shoulder. "Send him to curtain one and let's get Shane taken care of."

"Someone's feeling energetic," Rachel said, walking over to where Finn was.

"Yeah, you know. You'll get the feeling when you're always out in the field."

"Finn," Puck said from where he was standing behind the desk. "Sorry but I'm gonna have to pull you off your case. I need you on incoming. Rachel, you're with Kurt on the cowboy."

"Okay, catch you later, Rach," Finn said as she walked to the trauma room. "Enjoy the rodeo vic, he's a real piece of work." He turned his attention to Puck. "What's up?"

"Brody got in an accident. I need you to step in."

"Male, 20s, blunt chest trauma from MVA, tachy and hypotensive," Santana said, coming into the hospital.

"Flail chest, probable hemothorax trauma," Brody said. "I'll take him up to the OR."

"Finn, go," Puck said.

"No, no, no. This is my patient!" Brody said.

"Brody, the police called," Puck said. "You were in that accident."

"Yeah, I was but I'm fine."

"Okay, but you're going to have to answer some questions. They need you to take a drug test What happened out there?"

"I don't – can we talk about it later?"

"Fine. But there's no way I can let you work on that kid."

"There's no time for this!" Brody said. "The kid needs me in there right now."

"Not until we check you out. We have to make sure there's no brain trauma."

"My name is Brody Weston. Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T—"

"Brody…"

"It is Tuesday night at 8:30 pm and that boy's blood pressure is 82 over 42 and falling fast. I am the on-call surgeon and if you don't let me in there right now to drain the blood from his chest, he's going to die."

"Finn can get it started. We're going to have to call around for another thoracic surgeon."

"Oh come on, Puck! Just do the neuro, clear me, and let me get into surgery."

"Brody," Puck said, dropping his voice. "The family has called the hospital. They don't want you anywhere near their son. You're gonna have to sit this one out.

"You know, it's not as dangerous as people think," Shane said to Kurt as he was trying to stitch up his cheek. He looked up as Rachel walked in and smiled at her. "Whoa! You're hotter than a summer revival."

"Amen," Rachel said with a shrug.

"Easy, there, cowboy, she's already spoken for," Kurt said.

"Well a man's gotta speak his mind."

"You better speak it quieter with your girlfriend in the next room," Rachel said, looking at another set of stitches that were done.

"How is she?"

"She's good," Rachel said.

"I sutured the wound but he's still tachy," Kurt said.

"A blood infusion could help. What about his x-rays?"

"They're right over there," Kurt said, pointing in the general direction. "They look normal to me."

"Where's Doctor Superman at?" Shane asked, sitting up in bed. "I need to give him a hug. I'd be feeding worms if he hadn't come around."

"He's talking about Finn," Kurt said, noticing the expression on Rachel's face.

"Talk about bravery. He nearly gave up the ghost—"

"I'm sorry, what?" Rachel said, cutting him off.

"He almost died. This giant silver thing-a-ma-bob, sharper than a spur, came down about this close to his neck," he said, demonstrating how close it was.

"Is that true?" Rachel asked, glaring in Kurt's direction.

"I guess. I don't know. I mean, I was, I came in from a bad angle."

"Bad angle? What are you talking about?" Shane asked. "This thing would've cut his head. I swear to god."

"Okay, just take deep breaths," Kurt said, putting the oxygen mask on him so his voice would be muffled.

"Kurt?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow.

In a patient's exam room, Artie was doing an exam on her. "Does this hurt?" he asked, tapping a place on her stomach. She shook her head. "Okay, how about here?" He tapped again and she shook her head.

"Ow!" she said when he changed places again.

"How long have you had this pain?"

"About a week. At first I thought it was just cramps but then I got a fever."

"Where are your parents? We need consent for tests."

"My dad's driving in from Dallas. He had to go there for work. You can reach him on his cell." She looked down at her hands. "Does this mean I'm going to have to miss volleyball? I gotta get my practice time."

"What grade are you in, eighth?"

"Ninth grade. I'm a freshman. I play JV but I'm first alternate on varsity."

"Is that how you sprained your wrist?" Artie asked, gesturing to the brace on her arm.

"No. Carpal tunnel. My dad says I text too much."

Artie nodded. "I see you had your appendix taken out."

She winced sharply and nodded. "Yeah. Right there. It still kinda hurts."

"Do you remember who your surgeon was?"

She thought for a second. "Doctor Jones."

Artie nodded. "Excuse me for a minute." He walked out of her room and saw Mercedes walking in the hallway and ran after her. "Mercedes, hold on a second."

"Hey," she said, turning around to smile at him.

"Hey, I'm doing a surgical consult on Catherine Redding. She was your—"

"My appy patient. She's a sweet girl. What's she in for?"

"Abdominal pain and fever. It could be post-op complications. Who was your attending?"

"It was Joey but he let me do the whole thing."

"So you counted lap pads? Irrigated before closing?"

"You think I screwed up? It could have been any number of things. Did you even check?"

"Of course. I'm still ordering a CT just to be safe."

"She's 14-years-old and you're about to give her more radiation?"

"Then we'll do an ultrasound and run labs. But you better be right because if something else happens to her, this will be on you," Artie said as he walked off.

"How's he doing?" Puck asked as he walked into the trauma room.

"Touch and go," Finn said. "We stabilized him for surgery. I heard Brody plowed into him. Is that true?"

"Brody doesn't know how that happened. Police are on their way and they wanna talk to him."

"That's never good. I hope for his sake he wasn't responsible."

"Pulse ox is down to 80," Heather said.

"Okay. Second tube is in," Finn said, putting another tube into his abdominal. The monitors started beeping.

"He's gonna bleed out. Get me gloves!" Puck yelled.

"I'm losing his pulse."

"Heart rate's up to 170," Heather said.

"I'm cracking his chest," Finn said. "Aorta's clamped. Paddles. Clear," he said, shocking the heart.

"Still nothing," Puck said. "Increase to 30 joules," he said to Heather.

"Ready?" Finn asked. "Clear."

The three of them intently watched the heart monitor. "It's beeping," Puck said. "That was close."

"Pulse is strong."

"Let's pack him and get him up to surgery," Finn said.

"You want me to scrub in?"

"No, I can get started. What I need is for you to convince the dad to let Brody up there."

"Alright, let me get into it," Puck said as he took off his trauma gown.

Rachel wheeled Lindsay out of her room so she could see Shane. "Now, we gave him something for the pain," she said, stopping when she got the wheelchair close to the bed. She lowered one of the railings so Lindsay could take his hand.

"This is the quietest I've ever seen him," Lindsay said. "How's he doing?"

"His hip is healing fine but we're having trouble getting his heart rate down," Rachel said, grabbing a clipboard. "Does he have a history with drugs or alcohol?"

"Yeah, he used to drink a ton. That's the one thing about him I fixed," she said, reaching out to take one of Shane's hands.

"Well, he is quite the character."

"He talks a lot and flirts, skirts death on a daily basis. He's been that way since I've known him."

"Does he still ride bulls?"

"No, not on the rodeo circuit. They made him quit."

"So, what does he do?" Rachel asked as she listened to his heart.

"Nearly gets himself killed. Steer wrestling, barrel racing. The crowd loves it. We're a team. I'm retired but now I call out the acts and he does his thing."

"And you're okay with that?"

"You take that away and he wouldn't be the man I fell in love with, would he?" Lindsay asked, causing Rachel to stop and think for a second. "He'd be dead inside without it."

"How long have you two been together?"

"Oh my. Too long I suppose. We don't have any rings. We never thought to make it official. No kids, though we did talk about it from time to time."

"Seems like a sweet guy," Rachel said quietly. "I'm sure he would have been a great dad."

Lindsay nodded. "His heart's in the right place. He just never really was daddy material. You know, I'm not the smartest woman in the world, but I wasn't dumb enough to get knocked up by a man who couldn't think past his next bull ride."

Rachel looked down and resisted the urge to rest her hand on her stomach. "Excuse me," she muttered as she walked out of the room.

In the scrub room, Finn and Kurt were getting ready to start the surgery to save the guy's life. "It was really something, huh?" Finn said. "I haven't felt that way since—"

"Getting shot at and missed. It's great," Kurt said flatly.

"Kinda makes you see everything in a whole new light."

"So what are you seeing?"

"Just how confused I am. My life's changing so much. I feel bad for Rach. I just…I feel stupid for going all out and in."

"Oh no, you went all in. I mean, you got her pregnant."

"Yeah," Finn said with a chuckle. "She needs more than that from me. You know, I thought I'd be okay by now but after break down in group and…look, having a baby – is great. It's exciting. I'm excited."

"But?"

"It just feels like I have to get things together faster. I have to be able to fix things in my head quicker than if we weren't having a kid, you know? It's a lot of added pressure."

"What's Rachel have to say?"

"Rachel? I haven't told her."

"Why?"

"Why? Because it's all swirling around in my head. I don't wanna hurt her and I don't want her to feel like it's anything to do with her because it's not. It's all me."

"But not telling her is worse," Kurt said.

"Doctor Hudson," Heather said, poking her head in. "The patient's ready now."

"Patient's ready," Finn whispered to Kurt as he finished scrubbing his hands.

"Lucky you."

Out in the lobby, Puck was talking to the victim's father and it wasn't going well for Puck. "I've got witnesses saying he hit my boy and now you're telling me—"

"I understand. I know this is hard, Mr. Johnson."

"You don't know nothing. What are you talking about?"

"Doctor Weston is our most qualified surgeon, especially with this—"

"Mr. Johnson?" Brody said, coming up to join in on the conversation.

"Brody, this is not a good time," Puck said when he saw Brody walking towards him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Malik's father asked. "Take another step closer, please."

"If you want your boy to live, you'll let me do this operation," Brody said.

"You're not touching my boy."

"Just let me say my part. Sir, Malik's lung is badly injured and several ribs are detached from his chest. We need to repair the lung and put his chest wall back together. No one can do that like I can," Brody said. "Believe me, Mr. Johnson, there is no one in this hospital – _no one_ wants your boy to live more than I do."

"Oh is that right? More than me? More than his family?"

"No, what I meant to say –"

"No, I know what you meant to say. You meant that you're guilty. You hit him. So you better go in there and you better fix my boy. That's right. Because if you don't, I'm gonna sue you. And I'm gonna see your ass rot in jail."

"Okay, we'll fix him," Puck said, intervening before the situation elevated even more. "Brody, go scrub in. I'll call legal."

"Don't say nothing to me," Malik's father said when Puck turned around to talk to him. "Don't say nothing."

In Catherine's exam room, Mercedes and Artie were doing an x-ray on her to make sure there weren't any complications post-surgery. "There's no gallstones so it could be viral," Mercedes whispered to Artie, setting the wand down.

"Or a drug-induced peritonitis. Did you sterilize your instruments?"

"No I spat on them. Artie, what do you think?"

"I think there's a giant neon sign over this girl that says mistakes were made during surgery."

"Oh, a few weeks into your rotation and you're suddenly the experts on surgical mistakes. You're not your dad."

"Gee, thank you for the reminder. Maybe if you focused on surgery a little bit more than Joey's ass, this girl wouldn't be back in here."

"You don't—"

Puck walked into the room. "I get this crap at home. I don't need it here. What the hell is going on?"

"We were just—" Artie started.

"Disagreeing on the differential."

"You guys are on the same team," Puck said.

"Sorry. We'll work together," Mercedes said.

"See that you do. Just run your tests and then report back to me."

Mercedes waited until Puck left before giving Artie serious side-eye. "Nice job."

"Really? You're blaming me?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Well, don't worry. I'll solve this."

Mercedes scoffed. "Right."

"Any word on Brody?" Santana asked Rachel as they were talking at the nurses' station.

"Okay, the rumor mill? It is in full force. You know, it was his fault, it wasn't his fault. I can't imagine what he's going through."

"My buddy on the force said he might be facing charges."

"Really?"

"I gotta go, but I'll see you later," Santana said as she walked off.

"Rachel?"

"Yeah?" she said, turning around to face Kurt.

"Fresh off the scan – Shane's heart echo. It's weird. His ejection fracture is way down."

Rachel frowned at the scans as she heard Shane's voice behind her. "Hello, ma'am. I'm Doctor Beckman."

She turned around and shook her head. "You think this is weird? Look at that."

"I hate to be the one to deliver this news to you, ma'am, but you have lupus," Shane said as Lindsay rolled up.

Kurt and Rachel could sense this wasn't going to go over very well and rushed over to the patient's bed.

"You may also have the herpes."

"Shane, let's go," Kurt said, trying to get him away.

"I'm here for my bunion," the patient said, gesturing to her foot.

"I understand, ma'am. He's not a doctor, I apologize," Kurt said.

"Shane, what's going on?" Lindsay asked.

"What do you mean I'm not a doctor? You don't know who I am," Shane said.

"Baby, this is not funny. Stop fooling around."

"No, but my name's Doctor Beckman. And this woman here – she's in serious trouble." He started coughing and ended up coughing up blood.

"Okay, let's get you back," Rachel said.

"Get him on his side," Kurt said to Rachel, helping her guide him to the floor.

"Somebody get me a gurney!" Rachel yelled.

Once they got Shane back to his room, Rachel started doing an exam in his throat. "See that right there?" Rachel asked, showing Lindsay a spot on the screen that the scope picked up. "Shane's bleeding is caused by dilated veins in his throat called varices. They can be caused by alcoholism. Is it possible that he never stopped drinking?"

"No, I believe he quit. I mean, he makes things up but he's not a liar."

"Did he ever have a psychiatric evaluation?"

"No. Not since I've known him. Listen, I know how people talk and I know he can be boastful but that is…that's just part of being in the rodeo, you know? And stretching the truth is just part of his charm."

"Well, pretending to be a doctor is a step beyond boastful," Rachel said, taking off her goggles.

"Yeah, that did kind of freak me out."

"Just hang tight, okay?"

At the nurses' station, Puck was on the phone with legal. "Wait, in which case, liability is unlimited? That…hold on just a second," he said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone when Jesse got to the nurses' station. "What?"

"You have visitors. And they say they've been waiting a long time."

Puck looked up and saw some police officers. "Greg, I gotta call you back." He hung up the phone. "They want more than a drug test, don't they?"

"Yeah. And I overheard them talking about pressing charges for reckless driving."

"Stall them."

"What? What do you mean, stall them? What am I supposed to say?"

"Tell them the truth. Tell them the kid is critical and I'm talking to Brody now," Puck said as he ran off to the OR.

"Pulse ox is holding at 91 percent," Heather said in the OR room.

"Fine job stopping the bleeding," Finn said.

"I had to take out half a lung to do it," Brody said. "Stabilize the rib while I drill?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Finn said.

Puck slid open the doors. "Guys, I hate to have to do this. Brody, I need you to come downstairs with me."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"What the hell's going on?" Finn asked.

"Finn, please just take over," Puck said.

"Are you insane? The boy has a hole in his chest," Brody said.

"You think I want to do this? The police are downstairs."

"Well, the police can wait," Brody said as he kept operating.

"Let me give you a reality check, Brody. They're talking about filing charges down there," Puck said as Brody stopped drilling and turned to face him. "That's right. So take the damn drug test."

"I'm not leaving the kid. We need one more hour. Then they can do what they want."

Finn sighed. "Give him the hour, Puck."

Puck groaned. "One hour. I don't know that I can but I'll try."

Finn turned to face Brody. "You okay?"

"Do I have a choice? Stabilize the rib."

Santana and Sam were on their way to another accident. "You really cried watching _Finding Nemo_?" she asked.

"Oh my god. Like a freaking baby. I mean, his mom gets killed the first minute. Are you serious? Who put that in a kid's movie? I'm almost tearing up just thinking about it right now. Stupid ass barracuda."

"I'm surprised it got you," she said, turning to face him.

"Why do you always say stuff like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you're always surprised that I feel this or that I feel that. Basically that I show my feelings and that I'm open."

"I'm just giving you crap. It's whatever. You're a guy. I'm not used to that from guys."

"Okay, what are you used to in guys?"

"Well, you know that I've dated like, thousands, so let me see…"

"Ah, there we go. I remember this. We're deflecting again. You know you do that a lot, right?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Okay. So I'm always surprised by you and I always deflect. Is there anything else you'd like to comment on?"

"Look, I'm not trying to put you down. We're just talking. We're just having casual conversation. I deflect too. I have the fake laugh I do when I don't wanna talk."

"No, it's not that I don't want to talk. It's just that I don't want to talk about that. The men in my past? No, don't do that."

Sam nodded. "Okay. We'll talk about something else."

"We're here," someone said, knocking on the back of the ambulance.

The two of them got out and walked over to where a man was sprawled on the pavement. "Oh, my back. Oh my god, my back."

"Everybody back up," Sam said, trying to clear space so they could get through.

"I fell off the roof. There's no railing."

"Okay, I'm gonna go get the backboard," Santana said as she started back towards the ambulance.

"And get me a painkiller."

"Hold on," Sam said. "Who saw this man fall?" he asked the small crowd of people. "Who actually saw it?" He crossed his arms. "Get the hell up."

"I-I can't even move, man."

"Get up, Sean."

"You know him?" Santana asked.

"Oh yeah. Every couple of months he takes a ride to the ER and every time it's the same story – fell off the roof. And every time he just wants more oxy. Come on, on your feet, Sean."

"Come on, Sam. Damn, man."

"Sucks, doesn't it? Have a nice night," Sam said.

"Nicely done," Santana said with a smile on her face.

"I've got a few moves."

Back at the hospital, Mercedes and Artie were looking at paperwork for other patients. "Hey, Mercedes?"

"You know what? I don't think we should talk about things other than the case right now, Artie."

"Okay. Then let's review what we have here," Artie said, setting aside the paperwork to look at medical books to see what was wrong with Catherine. "It's a weird collection of symptoms. Inflamed pancreas."

"Pleural effusions."

"Trouble breathing."

"Increasing pain."

"All in a 14-year-old girl," Artie said.

Mercedes thought for a second. "Catherine's on the JV squad right? And she's pissed she's not on varsity. And she wants a scholarship to college. I mean, what if she's trying to impress her dad?"

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"That's our answer," Mercedes said.

"Her carpal tunnel isn't from texting, is it? We need a hormone panel."

In the lobby, Rachel was talking to the police. "Let me make this as clear as I can," Rachel said. "If you pull Brody Weston from this surgery, you are endangering this boy's life."

"We were told there's another doctor up there. You're a doctor. You can replace him."

"It doesn't work like that. Brody Weston is our on-call surgeon."

Puck came into the room. "I just spoke with Brody. They need one more hour up there."

Rachel sighed. "They have a warrant, Puck."

"We just got a bystander video from the accident. This will change your mind." He pushed a button on his phone as a video of the accident started playing. They saw teenagers playing in the street and saw Brody's car speed into the frame, run a stop sign and they heard a crash. "He ran right through that stop sign," the officer said as Puck and Rachel shared a look.

Up in the OR, things weren't looking so good as the monitors started beeping like crazy. "BP's down to 74 systolic," Heather said.

"Something's wrong," Finn said.

"It's not just a bleed."

"Brody, we've got company."

"Guys, I did what I could," Puck said, coming into the OR.

"I said I needed more time."

"They have you on video, Brody."

"Brody Weston. San Antonio Police. You need to come with us right now."

Brody took a few deep breaths and started taking off the surgical gown. "I'll be back."

"Okay," Finn said.

"Doctor Hudson, what should we do?" Heather asked.

"Let's just hope he passes that test."

Back in Shane's room, it wasn't going well for him. "I can't breathe. I can't keep my breath."

"It's okay," Lindsay said. "Just breathe."

"I'm trying. Hey," he said when Rachel came in. "There she is. My wild Texas rose."

"Hi Shane. How're you feeling?"

"He's getting weaker," Lindsay said. "I've never seen him this bad."

"I'm all stove up."

"Shane, don't talk like that."

"I been ready for some time, baby. You know that. I'm at peace with the world."

Lindsay looked at Kurt then Rachel. "That's the delusions talking, isn't it? Right? Please tell me that it is."

Kurt and Rachel shared a look. "I'm sorry. We have a few more tests that we need to run," Rachel said. "Kurt, can I speak with you outside?"

Kurt followed Rachel out and drew the curtain. "I put in a swan. He's got a little upper cardiac failure. I couldn't figure out the cause."

"But what about the psychotic behavior?"

"Comes and goes. Two minutes ago he was a Navy S.E.A.L. But it's weird because he keeps telling the same rodeo story, but it's got different people in it each time."

"Okay, let's run another scan and could you bring Lindsay out here please? I need to talk to her in private."

"Yeah, okay."

"Thanks Kurt," Rachel said.

Brody was pacing around his exam room, waiting for the test to be over with. Jesse opened the doors and stepped in. "Any news from Finn?"

"He's still in surgery and Puck's assisting. How are you holding up?"

"How do you think I'm holding up, Jesse? I'm getting drug tested and I didn't use anything and I didn't drink."

"Okay, let's have a seat," Jesse said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Did you tell them what happened?" he asked, tying the tourniquet on Brody's arm.

"Yes. Ten times. I was driving to the clinic and I was running late. I looked down for like two seconds – _maybe_ two seconds. And the next thing I know, this kid's car is right in front of me. If anything happens to him…"

"Oh no. Come on. We won't let that happen."

Out on the road, Sam and Santana were headed back to the hospital. "Aren't we a mess tonight?" he asked with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah," Santana whispered.

"How about this. How about we move away from the awkward silences and trying to guess what the other person is feeling? Move over, give me a little space here," Sam said, moving closer to where Santana was sitting. "How about we talk about something that's really been bothering me."

"What?" Santana asked him.

Sam took a deep breath and faced forward. "How gassy you are when you sleep."

"I'm not gassy!"

"I didn't want to say anything before, but I feel like we've reached this point where I feel that we can talk about these things."

"No."

"We're at a plateau and we – we can talk about these things."

Santana started laughing. "I'm not, I swear."

"Um, yes, you are. I mean, you've woke me up out of some sound sleep before."

"You are making this up."

"I'm talking about dream state sleep, okay? But, I mean, this is a serious issue. Baby, it's like I'm in…it's like I'm in a hot box," Sam said, adjusting the way he was sitting as Santana started laughing.

"Is it a nice hot box?"

"It's like you got the child lock going. I can't get out."

"Oh you poor thing."

"I don't know where to go. But I don't wanna go anywhere else and that's the important thing," Sam said.

"Santana, we got a code three chest pain," the driver said, knocking on the back of the ambulance.

She sighed and nudged Sam off her. "We'll finish this later," she whispered.

"The morning trumpets will be talked about."

Back at the hospital, Rachel was sitting down with Lindsay to talk about Shane. "Shane's heart is not pumping enough blood and we're trying to figure out why. Has he had any mental changes before this?"

"Well, little slips here and there. I was afraid it might be Alzheimer's."

Rachel nodded. "Those are called confabulations. He's not forgetting; he's making things up. You know, about his past, who he is."

"Might that have something to do with his disease?"

"It might. I know that he's had problems with alcohol, but what about his diet?"

"Shane is all about the protein. Rice and shrimp."

Rachel stared at her, waiting for her to continue. "Rice and shrimp and…"

"That's it."

"No fruits or vegetables? Other meats? Dairy?"

"Oh, no, no. He hates greens, he's lactose intolerant. But he loves shrimp. Why? Does that mean something?"

"You know, it just might. Um, sorry, you'll have to excuse me," Rachel said, getting up from the table in the break room.

Jesse was walking the halls of the hospital and saw Malik's dad sitting in the hallway. "Hey. I'm Jesse St. James. I thought I'd bring you some coffee," he said, extending the cup in his hand.

"How's Malik?"

"He's still in critical condition."

"But he's alive?"

"Yeah. And we're doing everything we can. The damage to the lungs was much more extensive than we thought."

"But Doctor Weston is gonna fix him, right?"

Jesse nodded. "He's in good hands."

"My boy Malik is special. Now I know every parent says that about their kid but he's got something extra. I've known that since the first day I saw his big hands the day he was born. He's a musician."

"Really?" Jesse said.

"Oh yeah. As a matter of fact, check this out," he said, handing Jesse an ear bud.

"That's really good," Jesse said, listening to a little bit of it.

"And all the instruments, that's him. Piano, guitar, that's all him. And that's just him messing around. He's been like that ever since he was five. Man, he's got a bright future. Brighter than I ever had. Why my son?" he asked as his voice broke. "Why my boy?"

"I wish I knew," Jesse said. He handed him the coffee and walked off.

Artie and Mercedes walked into Catherine's room and she sat up in bed. "Did you guys find something?"

"We tested your blood for hormone levels," Mercedes said.

"We found high levels of growth hormones. Dangerously high," Artie said.

"Catherine, you need to stop using it. It's killing you."

"You don't understand what it's like, trying to compete. If I stop now, I'm gone. No varsity team, no scholarship. That was our whole plan. It – oh my god," she said, looking out her window. "That's my dad. What am I gonna tell him?"

"The truth. He's gonna hear it from us," Mercedes said, reaching out to take her hand. "It's probably better he hears it from you first."

"So, how's she doing?" her father asked when he came into the room.

"We'll let her tell you," Artie said.

Jesse went up to the OR. "I put a rush on Brody's blood test."

"How long?" Puck asked.

"Not sure. Maybe an hour?"

"I don't think he has an hour," Finn said. "I can do it, but I'm not as fast as Brody."

"We gotta do something or this kid's not gonna make it," Puck said.

"I have an idea. Let me go talk to Rachel." Finn handed over his surgical tools and left the OR.

Rachel opened the door to the room where Brody was waiting for his results. "Hey, what's going on?" he asked.

"I'm gonna ask you this once and you are going to tell me the truth. Understand? And I know what your mother means to you so you swear on her life that you did not have a drink or take anything."

"Rachel, you know that I haven't had a drink in over 10 years. I still go to meetings."

"Swear that when those results come back, they will be negative."

"I swear."

"For anything."

"Yes."

"On your mother?"

"On my mother. What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your test results will take another 45 minutes and Malik does not have that time. So we are signing off on the results."

"You're faking them?"

"No. We're just saying that they're negative. Which means we are all going out on a limb for you. So I need to know that I can trust you when you say that those results will be clean as a whistle. Because that's what they're going to be. Right?"

Brody nodded. "Yes. They will."

"Okay," Rachel said. She got up from where she was sitting and left.

Back in the OR, it still wasn't looking good for Malik. "Heart's tachy to 158," Heather said. "BP only 64."

"You were right. It's an air embolism," Puck said.

"And it's already in the heart. If that bubble reaches the kid's coronary, he's dead," Finn said.

"Increase oxygen to 100 percent."

"I'm losing his pulse," Heather said.

"Damn it," Puck muttered.

"I can try to aspirate the air from the atrium," Finn said. "But, uh, let's place the central line."

"No time for that," Brody said, coming into the OR. "He'll be dead by then."

"So what do we do?" Puck asked.

"Take it directly out of the heart."

"You've done this before?" Finn asked.

"Only about a dozen times. But I've done this before." Brody stuck the needle into Malik's heart and started pulling it back. "See? There's the embolism. We got it."

Back in Shane's room, Rachel was explaining to him what she was doing. "Okay, this is thiamine, or vitamin B. Your body doesn't have enough of it, and it hasn't in a long time. Now, I need you to get on your side," Rachel said as she started to help turn him.

"That's it?" Lindsay said. "A vitamin?"

"Well, the deficiency has caused Shane to suffer an illness called Korsakoff psychosis. Now, if severe, it can really mess with your heart. That, and, well, you make things up."

"What are you talking about? She's calling me a liar," Shane said.

"You are one, Shane," Lindsay said as Rachel stuck him with thiamine.

"The good news is, it's reversible. Regular thiamine and a diet other than just shrimp and no alcohol."

"Alcohol? No, I don't take the drink. No, uh…"

"I know you tried, honey," Lindsay said.

"I'm sorry."

"I think the best thing for Shane right now would be some rest," Rachel said.

"I used to like you," he said to her.

"Alright," Rachel said, helping Lindsay back to her room.

"So, the stories are gonna stop?"

"No," Rachel said, propping Lindsay's leg up on some pillows. "His behavior won't stop right away. It might take a few months to clear up."

"And the thrill seeking?"

"The risk taking can be part of the condition."

"But that's who he is. He can't lose that light, can he?"

"I don't know. I guess you're gonna find out what was really Shane and what wasn't." Rachel pulled the chair closer to Lindsay's bed. "Did you ever try to change him?"

"Sure. In the beginning. But you know what? Eventually, you realize that you love a man for his falls as much as his wins. Maybe even more."

"Yeah," Rachel nodded. "It's complicated, isn't it?"

After surgery, they took Malik back down to a recovery room. "Great save, Brody," Finn said.

"Yeah, it was touch and go there for awhile," Puck said.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," Brody said. "Accelerating those test results."

"You realize if you were lying and something shows up—" Puck started to say.

"I wasn't lying," Brody said with a sigh. "I'm gonna follow him down to post-op and make sure everything goes right."

Brody got into the elevator and hit the close door button as Rachel ran after him. "Wait!" she called, shoving her hand in the path of the elevator so the doors wouldn't shut. "So I saw Malik on the way to post-op. It looks like things went well," she said, pushing one of the buttons.

"We'll see. Still not out of the woods."

Rachel nodded. "I got your test results back. Totally clean."

"I told you."

"Look, I'm…I should have known that you wouldn't lie to me and I'm sorry that I questioned you."

"You had to. But you stood by me."

"You stood by me enough. It's my turn."

Outside of Catherine's room, Artie and Mercedes watched as she talked with her father. "I'd say that was a success," he said.

"Yeah, but I don't know if Catherine's going to see it the same way. Her volleyball ambitions took a big hit."

"Well, as my father likes to say, life's full of sacrifices. Choose wisely."

"Speaking of which, I just wanna say I'm sorry. About what I said earlier. Everything. I'm just…I'm competitive. Like, overly competitive. And I really want to be chief resident in a couple of years."

"Yeah. We both do."

"I don't want us to hate each other."

"Yeah, me neither," Artie said. "We both went mean pretty quickly. We just have to find a way to stay friends during all of this, you know?"

"Yeah, we do."

"So, I guess we'll have to see how it goes then," Artie said as Mercedes nodded and smiled at him.

In Malik's post-op room, everyone was gathered around to wait for him to wake him. "He should be coming out of anesthesia any minute now," Puck said.

"We have movement," Brody said as Malik's hand twitched. "Okay, Malik," he said, checking his pupils. "Pupils are reactive."

"There he is, that's my boy," his father said as Finn reached out to take one of Rachel's hands in his own.

"Okay, Malik, I'm going to ask you a few questions. I don't want you to try and speak yet, but you can nod your head for yes and shake your head for no. Can you do that?" Brody asked as Malik nodded. "Okay good. You were in an accident. Do you remember that?"

Everyone watched as Malik nodded his head.

"This man, to the left here, do you know who he is?"

Malik slowly turned his head and saw his dad standing there. He nodded and reached his hand out to brush against his dad's.

"There's my boy. He used to tickle my hand and wake me up when he was a baby. Thank you, Doctor."

"Kid's jumping the gun on us with the arm movement," Brody said. "Now, Malik, can you move your other arm for me?" Brody waited for something to happen. "Malik? Are you trying to move your other arm?"

Malik nodded.

"Okay," Brody said, pulling back the blanket to reveal his feet. "Um, Malik, can you move your feet please?"

Everyone waited but there wasn't any movement.

"Malik, can you move your toes? Just wiggle your toes," Brody said. Brody took a pen out of his pocket and pressed it against his toes. "Can you feel this? Can you feel any of this, Malik?"

He shook his head no.

"Come on, son. Move your leg. Move your arm, move your hand. You can't do that?" his father asked.

Again, he shook his head no.

"There's…there's some cord damage, but that can be reversible," Brody said. "We can…we'll run some tests. And there's…a lot of reasons that – that can happen. So, I can help. I can help," Brody said, visibly shaken.

"Brody, step outside with me for a second," Puck said.

"It's okay son. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

In the lobby, Sam and Santana were walking around after their shift. "I've gotta say, it's not like I didn't respect you before, because clearly I did, but after riding along with you tonight, I must say you are something special."

"You're not so bad yourself," Santana said, sniffing.

"Wait, what's wrong?" Sam asked as they stopped walking.

"God, it's just that damn Nemo. You know?" she said as they both started laughing. "Gets me every time."

"Yeah, I get that actually. See, you and me both," he said, kissing the top of her head.

In the locker rooms, Finn was looking at something he had in his locker. "Hey, Finn, you done changing?" she asked, opening the door.

He quickly put what he was looking at back in. "Yeah. Just, uh, tough surgery."

She walked in and leaned against the lockers next to him. "I can imagine. Thank you for trusting Brody."

"Oh, I didn't trust Brody. I trusted you."

"Well thank you for trusting me."

"I'll always trust you, you know? Because I know you're trying to trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Yeah?" he said with a slight laugh. "You sure? Look, I love you. And I love the baby. And…I'm just still struggling a little bit. You know with…I thought all these PTSD was going away and it hasn't."

"That sounds like progress to me. For the record, the risks that you take, they scare me. But I do trust you. Okay? It doesn't mean that I don't wanna smack you every once in awhile."

"Hey, if I was you, I would smack me all the time."

"Noted," Rachel said with a soft smile.

"When I figure this all out, I'll be good for you and me and the baby. The three of us. I promise."

"I know," Rachel said, looking in his eyes. "I'll see you outside." She gave him a smile and left.

Finn turned back to his locker and pulled out what he was looking at earlier. He opened the top of a velvet box and looked at the engagement ring he got for Rachel. He ran his thumb over the diamond and put it back in his locker.

In the lobby, Brody was waiting for some news on Malik. He stood up when he saw Puck walking towards him. "His MRI, what did it show? Was it the surgery?"

"No, it wasn't. Don't do this to yourself. When he coded, the upper part of his spinal cord died. There was nothing you or anybody could have done. You saved the boy's life, Brody."

"How can you say that? I changed his life forever. Forever. He's going to be paralyzed, Puck."

"I know," Puck said gently.

"So how can I possibly make this right? How can I make this up to him?"

"You're going to figure out a way. I promise you. But right now you need some rest. Let me drive you home, okay?"

Brody nodded and followed him out of the hospital.

After Finn and Rachel had breakfast, they rode in silence back to Rachel's place. She looked over at him and smiled. "You know something crazy?"

"What's that?"

"A year ago, you and I were barely talking. And by talking, I mean I was nagging you. And in that year, you've grown so much. I'm so proud of you, Finn. And I don't ever want you to forget that."

Finn felt a small warm feeling in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time. "Thanks, Rach." He stared straight ahead. "You know, I never really stopped loving you."

Rachel smiled and set her hand on the center console, which Finn reached out to take. "I never really stopped loving you, either, Finn. I love you so much and I can't wait to start a family with you."

His thumb grazed over her knuckles and he thought back to the ring in his locker. "I can't wait to start a family with you either."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: Moving On**

"Finn!" Rachel said in the middle of the night, waking up from sleep. "Wake up."

"What's going on?" he asked, still half asleep.

"I'm starving. Will you get me food?"

Finn blinked a few times and looked at the clock on his phone. "Rach, it's noon. We don't have to be up for a few more hours. Can it wait?"

Rachel's eyes narrowed and she lightly smacked him on the arm. "Did you really just say that. To me, the mother of your child and your girlfriend?"

Finn groaned into his pillow. "Sorry babe. What are you hungry for?"

"Much better. But, do you think you could go get me a milkshake from the one place and mac and cheese from the other place?"

"Rach, I'm gonna need more descriptive words than that."

"Finn! Seriously, why don't you pay attention? I've told you what I like five times in the last week. How can you not remember that?" She got out of bed and fished some clothes out from one of the drawers. "I might as well go get it myself since you have no clue what I want."

"Sorry," he said, already planning on going back to sleep.

Later that day, Finn was walking the hospital with someone before the shift started. "That was a brutal work out. I've not been hit that hard in a long time."

"It was great for me. I can never kick your ass enough, Hudson."

"Oh, yeah? Hey, Rach, this is Smalls aka Colonel Elwood Green, my group therapy MMA leader/torturer," Finn said, noticing Rachel walking by, looking at something on one of the iPads. "This – this is Rachel."

"Whoa," Smalls said. "How'd you end up with him?"

Rachel laughed. "He got lucky I guess," she said, smiling at Finn.

"Rachel!" Nurse Molly said. "I was looking for you. You have a call."

Rachel sighed. "It was nice to meet you," she said as she walked off.

"Smalls, the Skype video call is ready," Puck said. "Showtime."

"What? What's this all about?" Finn asked as Smalls started heading into the break room.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," he said. "A little patience, Hudson."

At the nurses' station, Rachel hung up her phone call when Santana came into the hospital. "Rachel!"

"What's going on?"

"Nine-year-old boy, Ethan. He has a temperature of 101," Santana said.

"He is burning up and I'm fever concerned about his fever. It hasn't gone down," Ethan's mother said as Rachel looked at the paperwork Santana handed her.

"Mrs. Edwards, this is Doctor Berry," Santana said.

"So, he's fine one minute and then the next, it's…you need to help him," Mrs. Edwards said.

"Okay. We are going to examine Ethan but just so you know, it's very common for children to have fevers," Rachel said, pulling the gurney down one of the hallways. "He probably just has a virus or something."

"I am not concerned about other people's children. I'm concerned about mine so please tend to him."

"Artie, hi," Rachel said as she stopped walking. Would you takes this young man into peds please?"

"Sure, what seems to be the issue?" he asked.

"He has a raging fever of 101," his mom said.

"I will be with you shortly," Rachel promised. "In the meantime, I'm going to need you to fill out some paperwork with one of our nurses here. Molly, could you help Mrs. Edwards please?"

Rachel and Santana watched Molly lead her away as Rachel turned to face her best friend. "911 for a fever?"

"You should have seen her back at their house. I told her this isn't why you call 911 but she wasn't having it. She's a helicopter mom. So I figured I'd just save another crew a trip, you know?" Santana said.

"We just have a few moments for this, but Smalls has a big surprise for us," Puck said, walking into the break room.

"I wanted to thank all of you for the volunteer work you've been doing on the mobile vet centers, but I got outranked. There's somebody else here today that would like to do that," Smalls said as Finn followed him into the break room. Smalls nodded at the people who were setting up a video feed in the corner and they turned it on. The doctors turned their attention to the TV. "It's all yours, ladies," Smalls said.

"Thank you, Smalls," First Lady Michelle Obama said. "Hello San Antonio Memorial night shift."

Everyone gasped and stood up a little straighter. They couldn't believe Michelle Obama and Doctor Jill Biden were talking to them through a video feed.

"How are you doing?" she asked. Everyone nodded and a few peopled cheered. "Well, I know you all are busy and about to start your shift, but Jill and I wanted to personally thank you for everything you're doing to serve this community."

"Just from a show of hands, how many of you are veterans or married to veterans?" Jill Biden asked. Many of the staff raised their hands.

"Outstanding," Michelle said. "And by the way, we heard from Smalls about the terrific work you're doing with our veterans. Let me tell you, we're grateful to you for encouraging your veteran patients and their families to go to vet centers."

"We're so glad that, if they need it, the San Antonio veteran community can get the free counseling and support they have earned."

"We're big believers in counseling," Puck said. "And know how much it can help," he said, looking over at Finn.

"Well, we're both so proud of all of you for being a driving force behind this work so thanks again. Keep up the great work and now we're going to let you get started with your shift. Take it easy," Michelle said as her and Jill waved to the staff.

"Finn," Molly said, coming into the break room. "There's been an accident at a construction site. They need you there stat."

"On it," he said as he walked out of the break room.

Puck turned to Smalls. "Thanks for arranging that. It's a huge thrill. And thanks for helping Finn in group. It's made a big difference for him."

"You know, he still has some things to work through but he'll get there."

Artie pulled back the curtain to Ethan's exam room. "So, your fever still hasn't broken so we're gonna give you some more—"

"Where's my mom?"

"She's with Doctor Berry."

"I want to see her now."

"Ethan, it's alright," Artie said.

"No, it's not alright. I need to see her."

"Okay, well, I'll bring her to you? Okay? But, listen to me, I need you to pee for me."

"I told you I don't have to go. I want my mom."

"Okay," Artie sighed.

In the hallway, Sam caught up with Kurt. "So, Brody's still on leave, huh?"

"Yeah, for another day. The family's getting ready to sue him. And to make matters worse, the DA's considering to charge him with reckless driving."

"I just talked to him and he's a total mess," Mercedes said. "He feels terrible about the kid."

Jesse walked up to the nurses' station and shuddered. "I just examined a teenager who was wearing a necklace made of squirrel parts. He had it all chained together as necklace," he said as Kurt started laughing. "He wanted to know if it would give him AIDS. Kinda freaky, huh?"

"I don't know," Mercedes said. "On a full-moon Saturday night? That's nothing. It's gonna get a lot freakier tonight."

"Yeah, that might be the most conventional thing you see tonight," Kurt said.

"I thought all this full moon crazy stuff—"

"I don't care what the research says, okay? My experience tells me it's gonna get nuts in here."

"You know, it sounds like we have the makings of a bet tonight," Sam said. "Okay, how about this? You three, 100 bucks a pop, weirdest case, winner take all?"

The three of them looked at each other and nodded.

"Okay, I'm the judge," Sam said, writing their names on the dry erase board. "Weirdest case, 10 points, one point for the least. Whoever has the weirdest case by the morning takes the pot and bragging rights. Good luck to you all."

Finn rode up to a construction site accident on his bike. "You the doc?" one of the workers asked.

"Yeah. What's going on?"

"The equipment collapsed and landed on Carlos. The paramedics just took him away. We have another one that we tried to get to him but he's pinned under the pipes."

Finn walked over to where he was. "I'm Doctor Hudson, I'm gonna help you."

"How's Carlos? Is he okay?" he asked.

"It's serious, he's being transferred to the hospital. Hold still for me," Finn said as he put gloves on. He turned to the other construction workers. "We need to get this off him. You boys ready?" They nodded and helped Finn move the scaffold.

Finn moved the guy's leg out of the way and they set the scaffold back down. "This could have been much worse," Finn said, looking at his leg. "You have an open fracture and a dislocated ankle. I need to reset the ankle and get blood flow back into your foot or you could lose it."

"Do what you gotta do."

"Okay, let me get you some pain meds," he said, rummaging through the bag to find them.

"No! I can't have any," he said.

"You in recovery?"

"No, I'm on parole. I have anything in my system, they're gonna send me back."

"It's cool. I'll call your parole officer and it won't be a problem."

"Yeah, and if you forget, I'm back in the joint. Like I said, you just do whatever you gotta do."

Finn shrugged. "Okay. You ready for this?" He nodded. "On three. One. Three," Finn said, twisting the ankle back into place.

Back at the hospital, Mrs. Edwards was badgering Rachel and Artie. "I'm telling you, one minute he's fine and the next he is burning up."

"Well, we're going to run some tests and we've started him on fluids," Rachel said, putting her stethoscope back around her neck.

"I'm actually feeling better, Mom," Ethan said.

"Temp's still hovering around 101," Artie said.

"Well, that's not better. That's the same. Baby, you may think you're feeling better but you're not."

"Ethan, can you tell us where else you're feeling some discomfort?" Rachel asked him.

"Kind of feel like I have a—"

"He's got headaches," his mom said, finishing for him. "He also has this sort of sweating that's happening—"

"Mrs. Edwards, I think it would be best if Ethan could answer these questions."

"Well, he tells me everything. And I really don't want to t-tax…" Mrs. Edwards said as she started to trail off. She fell and hit her head on the paper towel dispenser.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked, catching her before she could hit the floor. Artie came around the other side of Ethan's bed to get her other side. "Let's get you seated," she said, guiding her towards the chairs.

"Are you okay?" Ethan asked.

"I'm fine."

"Mrs. Edwards, I need to do an exam on you," Rachel said, grabbing her mini flashlight from her scrubs top.

In the lobby, Finn was coming back with the construction site victim. "Male, 40s, ankle fracture. I'm taking him to trauma two."

"Where's Carlos? How's he doing? You gotta find out for me?" he asked as Sam came over to help Finn.

"Sam?"

"Sorry brother. He didn't make it," Sam said. "Doctor Puckerman's talking to his wife now."

"Lois," he said as they walked by Carlos' wife, "I tried to do everything to help him. I did! I tried! You gotta explain it to her. I tried to help him. I was there," he said as they took him into his trauma room.

At the nurses' station, Mrs. Edwards was talking to Rachel. "I didn't want to talk in front of Ethan, but I'm very sorry we got off on the wrong foot."

"That's okay," Rachel said. "Mrs. Edwards, is there something going on that I should know about?"

"No. Well, there's always something going on with me. I just have a very high-stress, very high-strung personality. My doctor has me on Xanax and I've been trying to get off it. So, I guess, lesson learned."

"Well, that shouldn't cause fainting," Rachel said.

"I didn't faint. I was dizzy and I lost my balance. I have vertigo. I was in a car accident several years ago and it's one of the residual effects. That and the eye thing. I'm just a bit of a mess."

"Well, thanks for telling me all of that. You did take a pretty big shot to the head so I would like to get a scan."

"Oh no. God no. I'm fine. But if you would just look after my son."

"We will. Doctor Abrams is going to run all the tests on Ethan and we will get his fever down—"

"Okay. I'm just gonna email my husband first. He's on a plane and he touches down in 90 minutes."

"It's okay. Take your time," Rachel said as she walked away.

Finn started working on the fractured ankle in the trauma room. "Man, I can't believe Carlos is dead. It's not right."

"You guys close?" Finn asked.

"Gonna be. Met him a month and a half ago at church. He got me the job. Really stuck his neck out for me because I can tell you, most places, they don't want to take on ex-cons."

"I can imagine," Finn said. "How long were you in for?"

"16 years. I just got out three months ago. And I didn't kill anybody, if that's what you were wondering."

Finn shook his head. "I wasn't."

"Well, a lot of people do wonder. They get scared when they find out somebody's been to prison. Think I'm some kind of killer."

The door opened and Puck came in. "Excuse me, Finn? When you have a second—"

"Weren't you Carlos' doctor?"

"Uh, yes. Yes I was."

"So did he suffer?"

"I'm sorry, sir. He was DOA at the site. We did everything we could. Would you like to talk to his wife, Lois? She's still here."

"No," he said quietly.

"Sorry, what was—"

"I said no! I don't want to talk to her, okay? She just lost her husband. So I'm sorry, but I just—" He turned and faced Finn. "Can you just give me a minute?"

"Of course," Finn said, scooting the chair back before he left the trauma room.

"Sorry, but the reason I came in is that Ali's been moved up the transplant list," Puck said. "The embassy in Kabul has his visa so I'm gonna tell him later and let him know."

"That's great," Finn said.

"So it looks like I'm going sooner than expected. Maybe about a week."

"Puck, I will go with you if you want," Finn said. "Just say the word."

"I know. I know you would. Rachel would kill both of us. She's already yelling at me for going."

"Ali saved your life. There's only one way you can pay him back."

Puck nodded. "I know. But wives and pregnant girlfriends don't always understand that."

"No," Finn said with a slight laugh.

"I'll go get Ali. Be back before you know it."

At the nurses' station, Kurt was showing Jesse, Mercedes and Sam something on the computers. "Wait, what is that? A tumor?" Sam asked.

"No, fortunately. Some knucklehead teen had a contest to see how many sunflower seeds he could eat," Kurt said. "So, 10 days later, ix-nay on the poo-pay, no bowel movement so his parents brought him in."

"Not bad," Sam said.

"Please. I just pulled a cockroach out of a patient's ear," Mercedes said.

"Who cares? That's nothing."

"Oh, then he ate it," Mercedes said.

"Now that's something," Sam said. "Okay, six points for Mercedes, five and a half for Kurt and my good friend Jesse is still in the lead with six and a half with the squirrel necklace, my friends."

"I should get more points," Kurt protested.

"Me too," Mercedes said.

"I have ruled. Move on to your next patients," Sam said.

Rachel pushed open the doors to Ethan's exam room and was greeted by beeping monitors. "His pressure's dropping, he became altered and completely soaked himself," Artie said, giving her an update.

Rachel looked at him. "He's septic. Hang a gram of ceftrianone and bolus 300 cc of saline." She crossed the room and checked his labs on the computer. "His white count is 19,000. What did his chest and urinalysis say?"

"His chest x-ray is clear but we didn't do a urine. He wouldn't pee."

"Wouldn't or couldn't?"

"He said he didn't have to. I gave him fluids to help."

Finn pushed open the doors to radiology and wheeled his patient in. "Look, Walt, I think you may need surgery."

"Surgery? I can't have surgery. I have to work. I want to go back to work tomorrow."

"Well, that's not gonna happen because you're gonna be on crutches," Finn said, putting the brakes on the wheelchair.

"You don't understand. I can't be off that long. I'll lose my job and everything hinges on that job."

"I'm sure you'll get some workers comp or something to help you get by, right?"

"I'm not talking about getting by. I'm saving up so I can send my boy some money for college. He's graduating high school in a month and I need to show him that I've changed."

"Walt—"

"No, doc. This is not gonna happen. I'm not having surgery. I'm just gonna limp along," he said, starting to get out of his wheelchair.

"Let's just run the test and then we can—"

"No. Ow!" Walt said, crashing to the floor. "It just gave out on me."

"Yeah, I told you, your ankle's barely hanging onto your leg."

"I'm not talking about that leg. I'm talking about the other one – my good one. It just gave out on me."

"Okay, your good one? Can you feel this?" Finn asked, tapping his fingers on it.

"No."

"What about this?" he asked, putting more pressure on a different part of the his leg.

"Nothing. I can't feel anything and I can't stand up on it. What the hell is going on?"

Back in Ethan's room, he was starting to wake up. "I'm sorry!" he said, taking off his oxygen mask as he noticed they were changing his bed sheets.

"Come here, I got you," Artie said, helping him take the oxygen mask off.

"Please don't tell my mom I wet myself. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Ethan. No one's gonna be mad at you, okay?"

"But my mom will get upset. And she doesn't handle that well."

"Just curious," Rachel asked. "What does your mom do when she gets upset?"

"She just…I don't want to talk about it. I'm tired and I don't feel well." He turned to his side and fell asleep.

"That doesn't sound good," Artie whispered.

"No, it doesn't. I need to talk to the mother. I'm getting a picture here I don't like," Rachel said as she left the room.

In Walt's trauma room, Finn was trying to get to the bottom of what happened. "What about the leg weakness? When was the first time you noticed that? Is it new or is it the same as the hand weakness? I can't help you if you don't tell me."

Walt sighed. "Tonight was the first time."

"So just now?" Finn asked.

"No. If I told you something, we still have doctor-patient confidentiality, right?"

"Of course. 100 percent."

"Carlos and I…we were always playing around, you know? We were friends. And I stepped in front of him, just as a joke, as he was driving by. And I was just kidding around. And I tried to move and I couldn't. And my legs were stuck in cement. It was like I fell down and he swerved to avoid me and he ran into the scaffolding," he said as he voice cracked. "I killed him. I can't help but believe that I'm the only one who's responsible for killing my best friend."

At the nurses' station, Rachel and Artie were going over Ethan's test results. "So you're sure there's no evidence of an obstructing stone?"

"Yeah, the renal ultrasound shows the hydronephrosis but no reflux or stone," Artie said. "Have you talked to the mom about why Ethan's so afraid of her?"

"No, she went to meet her husband." The elevator doors opened and Mrs. Edwards stepped out with her husband. "Actually, here they are. Hi," Rachel said when the two of them got over to where she and Artie were standing.

"Good evening, doctors, I'm David, Ethan's father."

"They said that the antibiotics would help, so why is he getting worse?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I just took a cab straight here. Can you catch me up?" David asked.

"Yes, we think that Ethan has a kidney infection due to a blockage but he doesn't have any of the common causes so we have him on potent antibiotics."

"And they take some time," Artie said.

"You said that hours ago," Mrs. Edwards said.

"Artie, why don't you take Mrs. Edwards in to see Ethan? I think he would like that," Rachel said, giving Artie a look. Once they left, she turned to face Mr. Edwards. "I'll fill you in. But we need to talk about your wife," Rachel said as they walked off.

At the nurses' station, Sam was tallying up the points. "Okay so Jesse is still ahead. It's been a bit of a slow night but I'm sure things will pick up after the bars close."

"They better. Because we're not losing to the noob," Mercedes said.

"That's a fact, Jack. You understand? You will not win," Kurt said.

"You two are feeling a little confident, huh? How about a little side wager," Jesse said.

"Bring it on," Mercedes said.

"Last place finisher washes the other two's cars."

"Deal," they both said at the same time.

Finn was wheeling Walt around the hospital. "You know, whatever happened out there with your leg, you couldn't control that."

"I shouldn't have been messing around."

"He was playing around too. You said you guys did it all the time," Finn said, moving him into a new room. "So it wasn't your fault."

"You're a smart man, doc, but unless you ever felt responsible for getting someone killed…"

Finn put the brakes on the chair. "I have," he muttered.

"Here?"

"Afghanistan."

"Someone close?"

"Yeah. Very."

"You don't like talking about it?"

"Nope," Finn said. "In my group."

"Good for you. I thought therapy was BS. Bunch of guys sitting around, whining. I thought it was weak."

"Me too," Finn said, moving the wheelchair once Walt was in bed. "But I was wrong."

"You know what I learned listening to all those stories about who's the toughest and the baddest?"

"That you weren't the toughest and the baddest?"

"Exactly. I thought I was tough. I wasn't tough. I was a coward. I took the easy road. You know what kind of man I am?" Walt asked. "The kind who would walk out on his kid. You got any?"

"No, not yet," Finn said, taking some of the pillows from behind his head to prop up his foot.

"Well, when you do, don't mess it up. You gotta be there for them."

"I will."

"Easier said than done. Life can pull you in way you wouldn't expect. Ow," he said when Finn hit a spot on his ankle.

"Sorry. Your ankle hurting again?"

"Yeah, a bit."

"I'll get you some ibuprofen. This'll help with the pain," Finn said, handing him a few pills and a cup of water.

Walt tried to swallow the pills and started choking. "You okay?" Finn asked.

"Sorry. I was having a problem swallowing. It happens sometimes."

"It's not the first time, right? You have this with food too?"

"Yeah. I mean, no, it's not the first time, and yeah, sometimes with food. Is that bad?"

In the break room, Puck set up a Skype chat. "Ali? Ali, can you see or hear me?" he asked. "I'm losing you."

"Puck, I can – I can hear you," he said weakly. "Let me adjust my device."

"Okay." Puck watched as he adjusted the computer and a concerned look grew on his face. "Ali, what's been happening?"

"I haven't been feeling well lately. I might have a cold or – or flu."

"Listen, I'm gonna get back to you tomorrow with…with all the details of your trip. And I'm gonna give the aid worker a list of some meds to get for you so you can feel a lot better, okay?"

"Thank you, Puck."

"I can't wait to see you, Ali, in Dubai."

"Me too."

"I miss you. Take care, okay?"

"Okay, goodbye," Ali said as the screen went blank.

Kurt, who entered the break room in the middle of the conversation came up to where Puck was sitting. "So that was Ali?"

"Yeah."

"He didn't look too good, Puck. You think he's gonna make it to Dubai?"

"Not without an LVAD to bridge him to a transplant. If he doesn't get that, he's not gonna make it," Puck said, sitting back in his chair. "He didn't realize."

Finn came into the break room and got Puck so he could try and bounce ideas off of him. "So, I think Walt's issue could be neuro, it could be from the pipe falling on him because he took a pretty good bruising on his spine."

"It could be a pre-existing problem too. Try a nerve conduction test and get a baseline to see if the wiring in his nervous system's working," Puck said.

"Good idea," Finn said, writing it down.

"After being in prison that long, he could have all sorts of issues that were never addressed."

"He's had a pretty messed up life. I gotta give him credit, though. He owns all his dumb decisions. Oh, did Smalls get back to you about whether they can take Ali to Kabul or to an American base? He is pretty well connected with the security firms."

"He's making calls, but I gotta say, I'm freaking out here because Ali's running out of time. You should have seen him. He did not look good."

"Puck, we'll just keep working our contacts. We both got calls and emails to Joey. Maybe he can get a doctors without borders team in there."

"Your lips to god's ears."

"I gotta go. My patient's in the bay," Finn said as Puck pressed a button for the elevator.

In a private area, Rachel was talking to Ethan's dad. "Yeah, she's flighty, but that's all. There is no way that she would—"

"Okay, but he was legitimately afraid of her finding out," Rachel said.

"Well, that's probably because of the bed-wetting issue."

"The bed-wetting issue?" Rachel asked. "She didn't mention anything about that."

"It's sort of a thing between them. She takes it personally because she can't solve it."

"Well, it doesn't exactly work like that."

"And then she gets upset because she feels like a failure and it's like a cycle. She's been to therapists about it."

"She did mention that she was taking some medication," Rachel said.

"She's trying. She really is. But the shrink – he says that the right medication is an art, not a science. I just travel so much for my job that I'm not there a lot and I don't really know everything that goes on."

Rachel nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Mr. Edwards, for filling in some of the blanks. We will get to the bottom of Ethan's medical problems."

"Thank you," he said.

Sam, Kurt and Jesse pulled back the curtain on one of the exam rooms and gasped. "Sir, I just need my colleagues to confirm my diagnosis," Mercedes said. "This gentleman attempted to impress his girlfriend by kissing a rattlesnake on the lips. Now, rattlesnake envenomation occurs in 75 percent of all rattlesnake bites, which means, sir, you are very lucky to be alive," Mercedes said. "Would you gentlemen concur?"

"We concur," Kurt said in a sour tone.

"Yeah, I thought you might. And if I were you, I'd get yourself a new girlfriend. But that's my advice," she whispered to her patient as the guys walked out.

"We have a new leader," Sam said. "That's definitely an eight and a half. And with Kurt's werewolf last hour, that puts you in last place, Jesse."

"I'm gonna get my car extra dirty for you," Kurt said. "My neighbor's got triplets. I'm gonna let them eat chocolate in the front seat all day. Have fun with that."

Sam started to follow Kurt before Jesse grabbed his arm. "Hold on a sec. I got 40 bucks for the next crazy patient," he said, fishing money out of his pockets.

Finn knocked on Walt's door. "Hey," he said when he opened it.

"So what is it? I can tell by the look on your face it ain't good."

"It's not great. Based off the results of your EMG and the numbness in your legs, the weakness in your hands and the difficulty swallowing and—"

"Just say it, would you?"

"You have ALS."

"Whoa. What, like that ice bucket thing?"

"Yeah, the ice bucket thing."

"So I'm gonna be laid up like this for the rest of my life? I'm not gonna be able to work?"

"The thing is, Walt, with ALS, once the symptoms start, the life expectancy is maybe one to two years and based off of your symptoms, you've probably had it awhile. I'm sorry," Finn said.

"I don't understand. I can feel my leg now. Look, I can move it. So just like maybe what you said, I hurt my spine in the fall or something?"

"Look, I wish it was, but I consulted a neurologist. We reviewed the tests and he concurred. You have ALS."

"So I was right. Carlos died because of me because I couldn't move."

"No, Walt. You couldn't help that."

"Oh yeah, I couldn't help anything, can I?" he asked, his voice rising. "All I wanted was to work, make money for my boy. The truth is, I was thinking about going up there to see him graduate."

"Maybe you can still do that," Finn said.

"Yeah, and show up empty handed after all these years. That would make a great impression. I should have swallowed my pride and told that boy every chance I had how much I loved him. But I didn't do that. And I blew it. Now…I'm never gonna be able to get that back.

In the lobby, Santana arrived from another run. "Incoming!" she called.

"Is this the one?" Jesse asked.

"Yep," Sam said.

"What happened?"

"Don't even try and guess because you never will," Santana said.

"It's all yours, Jesse," Sam said. "Go ahead and take a look."

Jesse nodded and lifted up the blankets spread across the two gurneys. "Whoa."

"Yeah. Male and female, both 30s. She just got cosmetic braces and wanted to try them out on her boyfriend, as it were, and let's just say something got caught between the tracks," Santana said.

The female patient tried to say something and her boyfriend yelled out in pain. "Stop talking! It hurts like crazy when she tries to talk. Just help. Please. I'm begging you."

"This would put me in the lead?" Jesse asked, turning to Sam.

"This would definitely put you in the lead."

Jesse nodded. "Molly! Get me a needle please."

Sam watched Jesse and Molly go tend to the patients and shook his head. He walked over to the nurses' station and started filling out some paperwork when Kurt came up to him. "Did you just…are you kidding me? You gave that to him?" Kurt asked.

"Sorry, man, you were not around. Looks like you're in last place. Not looking good for the home team."

"If you give me the next crazy patient and I'll give you 20 bucks of my winnings," Kurt said, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because I just offered you 30 bucks to throw me a solid," Kurt said, emphasizing that he was upping his bribe money.

"You're right. 50 bucks is a lot of money to be advertising to everyone."

"What?"

"That's cash money up front."

Kurt sighed and grabbed his wallet, fishing through to see if he had the money. "Have you no morals?"

Sam smiled at his friend as he tucked the money into his pocket. "You better be taking me out with all that cash you're earning," Santana said from where she was standing.

"Why do you think I'm doing it?"

"To mess with the doctors," she said with a laugh.

"Okay, maybe. But I'm still gonna take you out. And then maybe take you down."

"Oh really?"

"Thanks for the heads up on the braces."

"Anything for my man. Whatever happened to that kid I brought in with the fever?"

"Yeah, that's gotten complicated. I think the mom may be behind it somehow. Come on, I'll walk you over."

"Okay," Santana said, gathering the paperwork she was working on.

Sam's phone went off and he grabbed it. "Got it. Eight o'clock dinner reservations Saturday night. Only me and you."

"Sounds great. Wine me, dine me, then be my dessert?"

"You drive a hard bargain. On it," he said, going back to typing something on his phone.

They rounded the corner and Santana took off running. "Sam, call security. Code gray!" she called. She grabbed Ethan's dad and pushed him against the wall.

"What are you doing to me? Let go!" he said.

"He was hurting her, I saw the whole thing," Santana said as Rachel ran over.

"What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"You had her pinned against the wall."

"What, no? He was grabbing me to hold me up," Ethan's mom said. "So that way I didn't hit the floor."

"She was dizzy and about to fall. I was helping her."

Santana turned to Sam. "Sam, help. He saw the whole thing."

"Sorry, I was looking at my phone," he said as Puck joined the commotion.

"Get her away from me," Mr. Edwards said.

"Santana, stand down and back away," Puck said.

"Mr. Edwards, I apologize. She's been under a lot of stress lately," Rachel said, giving her best friend a look.

"Fine. Whatever. Just keep her away from us. And look after our son."

"Santana, come on," Rachel said.

"I swear I saw him. I swear," she said as Rachel led her away.

Rachel led her to the locker room so they could talk. "Santana, listen to me. Lisa has vertigo, okay? She fell earlier tonight and I had to grab her too."

"I saw the look on her face. She is scared of him."

"Santana—"

"And when he grabbed her before, he was pushing her. He wasn't holding her."

"No one else saw that."

"Because no one was there. Why do you think he picked that moment?"

"And Sam?"

"Sam wasn't looking. God, Rachel, listen to me! I know what I saw. Don't you think I know an abuser when I see one?"

Rachel sniffed. "Santana. You are my best friend. Okay? You are my family and I love you. But you and I both know that you have a history of jumping the gun. And if the hospital knew that, you could be out of a job."

Santana slid down against the wall. "He's abusing her. I've never been more sure in my life."

Rachel walked over to where she was sitting. "Sweetie, listen to me. I have already called legal and protective services for Ethan, okay? Hopefully they can talk to him and get some more answers but we have to follow protocol on this," she said as the door opened and Puck walked in.

"Puck, I'm sorry. I could have handled it better," Santana said, getting up from where she was sitting.

"Yeah, you think?" he said as Rachel shot him a look. "Legal is all up my ass, they're going to call your boss and that dad is some kind of suit. You know the trouble he's gonna make."

"No because he knows that I know what he's up to—"

"Santana, we're going to talk about this later when cooler heads prevail. In the meantime, I'm gonna have to ask you to go home."

Santana sighed as the door opened again and Molly came in. "Puck, there's a call for you at the admit desk."

"See that? It's hitting the fan already," Puck said. "Just take a message for me."

"It's about Ali," Molly said. "It's long distance. Doctor Chavez."

Puck nodded and left and Rachel turned back to face Santana. "Santana, I—"

"Get out. Just get out. I don't want to look at you right now."

"Santana—"

"Get the hell out!"

Rachel wiped the tears from her eyes and left, slamming the door behind her. Once it shut, Santana broke down into tears.

Finn was sitting in the hallway slumped against the wall. It wasn't a good night for him.

"I heard you were up here," Rachel said when she left the locker room. She handed him a cup of coffee and sat across the hallway from him. "Hell of a night, huh?"

"You too?"

"I got a kid with kidney failure in the middle of a family drama whose mother may or may not be emotionally or physically abusing him. And Santana just jumped the father, thinking that he is abusing her."

"She did that?" Finn asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"Yeah. Puck had to send her home."

"You think she's right?"

"I don't know. She's been wrong before. And you know, when you love someone and you really want to believe them but you're just having a hard time?"

"I hear you."

"So what's got you slumped up against the wall?" Rachel asked, twisting to loosen her back.

"I just had to tell my patient that he has ALS. Then I had to call his family in Chicago and tell them he was a ticking clock to a slow and terrible death."

"Yeah, that's a tough call to make."

"Yeah. He was just getting it together and all of a sudden," Finn said, snapping his fingers. "You just never know. So he's talking to them now and I wanted to give him some privacy."

Rachel looked up and saw Puck walking down the hallway. "Hey Puck."

"Hey, what's up?" Finn asked.

"Hey. I was just looking for you," Puck said to Finn.

Rachel stood up. "I gotta check on Ethan and calm the parents down so I will see you at the end of the shift."

"What's going on?" Finn asked, standing up as they started to walk together.

"I just talked to Joey. There's no Doctors Without Borders personnel anywhere near Ali."

"Okay, what about Smalls? What did he find out?"

"He figured out a way to get a doctor into Afghanistan."

"That's great. Who's the doctor?" Finn asked.

"Me."

Outside, Sam and Santana were talking. "I'm – I'm trying to understand."

"I know," Santana said, looping one of her arms through his. "I know. Thank you. Thank you for not pushing me. I told you last week I had some things to work through. This is one of them."

"Well, I'm the best nurse for the job. So whenever you're ready, I'll be there."

Santana saw her cab pull up and she pressed a kiss to Sam's cheek. "I know."

Back inside the hospital, Kurt left a patient's room and heard someone screaming. He shook his head and started updating a patient's chart when Molly came up next to him. "How badly you wanna win?"

He looked up from the paperwork and turned to face her. "You know something, don't you?"

"Mmhmm. She's your ticket. But it'll cost you 50 bucks in cash."

"40."

"70," she said, driving up her price.

"What? Did you go to nursing school with Sam? Fine," he whispered, fishing out the rest of his money from his wallet.

"Come on," she said, tucking the money into her pocket.

She pulled the curtain back and Kurt stared at the patient. One of the other nurses' lifted her blanket and his eyes widened.

"A chicken?" Jesse asked a little while later. "She shoved a chicken in her—"

"Yeah. She thought it would grow into a baby," Kurt said.

"I'm not gonna eat for a month," Jesse said.

"Yeah, I called the PET team to go see her."

"Sam!" Jesse called. "I think Kurt is gonna end up winning this one."

"And I'm gonna be washing cars," Mercedes said.

Sam shook his head. "Whatever. I'm not really thinking about that right now."

Rachel was walking with Lisa to go back into Ethan's room. "So it looks like he's responding to the meds and the infection is getting under control," Rachel said.

"Thank god. And thank you," she said as Rachel pulled back the curtain, revealing Santana sitting next to Ethan's bed.

"Santana!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Santana asked.

"I thought you went home," Rachel said to Santana.

"I had the cab bring me around front."

"You need to get out right now," Lisa said.

"Or what? What is he going to do to you?" Santana asked.

"Santana!"

"Listen to her, Mom," Ethan said. "She's really smart."

"What did you say to him?" Lisa asked.

"He told me that he's been holding his pee to protect you," Santana said. "He told me that he wets the bed, your husband knocks the crap out of you," she said as her voice cracked.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I had to tell someone."

"So, the dental work that showed up on your scan, the vertigo, that isn't from a car accident, is it?" Rachel asked her gently.

"You need to get out." Lisa said.

"I understand what you're going through," Santana started.

"You don't. You can't."

"I do," she said, a little more forcefully. "My ex-husband used to beat me like a drum."

"Don't talk like that in front of my son."

"It's okay, Mom. Show her your scar," he said to Santana.

Santana looked over at Rachel, who had tears in her eyes. Santana reached up and pulled her hair to the side to show his mother a scar that ran down the back of her neck. "And that's just one of them. Lisa, you have to stop this. You have the power."

"I don't. I called the cops once and they didn't even file a report. Then he hit me so hard that I had vertigo. But if he hits me, he doesn't hit Ethan."

"And that is why you wanted us to cure him so fast," Rachel said. "So he wouldn't take it out on you."

"It's because everything's my fault. Bed-wetting, grades, fevers. You can't help me. I can file a report and the only thing that's gonna happen to me is I'm gonna get the crap knocked out of me."

"I thought the same thing and that is why I stayed so long," Santana said. "But I found a way out and I guarantee you, this is your way out. I promise you, he will never touch you or Ethan again."

"Do it, Mom," Ethan said. "Please."

In the break room, Puck was talking to Smalls. "But you got me in?"

"A flight leaves this morning. But if you're late, there won't be another one."

The door opened and Kurt came in. "Is it true?"

"Yeah," Puck said.

"Are you insane? You can't go. Listen to me. No offense but you are a doctor who was in the Army. You were not a soldier in the Army. Smalls, can you tell him what it's like over there now?" Kurt asked.

"I told him. You're being dropped into a combat zone. There are no guarantees here," Smalls said.

"I understand," Puck said.

"Do you hear that?" Kurt asked. "Now think about Quinn and the kids."

"You think I haven't thought about my wife and my kids?"

"I can go," Finn said.

"No. No way."

"I can."

"No, you just got back," Puck said. "You're not going anywhere. Right, Smalls? There's no room."

"Yeah, he got the last seat on the flight."

"But listen to me," Puck said. "There's one thing I need you to do for me. Check your email. I'm going to send you my will and my life insurance policy just in case. Thank you all for your concern. I appreciate it," he said. "But I've made up my mind. I'm going. Thank you."

Across the hospital, Artie was talking with Ethan's dad. "We should be able to get the IV out of his arm soon. The meds have kicked in and he'll be better than ever," Artie said.

"Thank you. Thank you," he said, pushing open the doors to Ethan's room, where he saw Ethan in bed and Lisa standing next to Santana.

"Hey David," Santana said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"What the hell is she doing here? My lawyers are going to tear you apart."

"You're going to jail," Santana said.

"What are you doing, baby? Don't make this mistake, okay? I—"

"We should talk outside," Santana cut him off.

"Yes we should," he said as the three of them started walking out to the hallway. "I don't know what you think you're pulling here. Lisa, do not listen to her. You don't want to do this."

"Or what?" Santana said.

"Yeah, or what?" someone said from behind them.

David turned around. "Who the hell are you? What is this?"

"They help protect women and children who need to testify against assholes like you," Santana said. "I use the Baltimore chapter. I'm sure the San Antonio one is pretty good too."

"Great, okay. So, what are you gonna do?"

"If anything happens to Lisa or Ethan, even if you're not at fault, even if he just falls off his bike, they're coming after you," Santana said.

"I'm calling my lawyer," David said, pulling out his phone.

"Yeah, you do that. Because you're gonna need them," Rachel said, stepping up with two police officers behind her. "Officer, you have the complaint."

"Sir, if you would come with us, we need to ask you some questions."

He rolled his eyes and followed them out. "This is unbelievable."

Back inside Ethan's room, Artie and Santana were talking to him. "Ethan, I want you to meet the guys," she said.

"Hey buddy," they said, coming into the room. "You are so brave."

"Thank you. So much," Lisa said to Santana and Rachel. She turned to Santana. "Can I ask you – how long did it take before you weren't afraid anymore?"

"I'm still working on it," Santana said.

Lisa nodded and walked closer to Ethan's bed, leaving just Santana and Rachel. Rachel looked over and saw the tears in her best friend's eyes. "I'm still working on it," Santana said, her voice cracking.

"I'm so proud of you," Rachel whispered, taking Santana's hand as she stepped closer to her.

In the hallway, Finn was wheeling Walt out. "So, how'd the call with your ex go?"

"It was great. Turns out that he was curious about seeing his Pops and my ex has all the forgiveness of a good Christian woman. They want me to come to his graduation."

"Seriously? That's great, Walter. You can get some closure."

"Yeah. I just wish I had a gift to give to my son to tell him how much I love him."

"Well, here's your gift," Finn said as Molly brought over crutches.

"Crutches?"

"Yeah. For your dislocated ankle. Since it's your official diagnosis."

"I'm not following," Walt said, getting out of the wheelchair and onto the crutches.

Finn pulled an envelope out of the back pocket of his jeans. "If I were you, I'd take the cash in this envelope and I'd buy a life insurance policy with your son as the main beneficiary. I paid the first two years upfront and there's enough in that envelope to buy a policy that will help your son get through college."

Walt looked around. "What about the ALS records here?"

"Records get lost all the time. But I'd buy the policy as soon as possible."

"Thank you," Walt said. "Do you think it would be alright if I made Carlos' wife and their boy beneficiaries too?"

"I think they'd appreciate that."

"Thanks again. But why are you doing this?"

Finn sighed. "Maybe someday, somebody will do the same for my kid. Take care, Walt."

They shook hands and Finn watched him head towards the exit of the hospital. He took a deep breath and walked over to the elevators and pushed the button. It opened and he saw Rachel standing inside. "Hey," she said.

"Hey."

"I know you're going with Puck," she whispered as the doors closed. "And I know you've already made up your mind."

"I'm sorry," Finn said. "I just…I feel like I don't have a choice, okay?"

"You – you have a choice. We all have choices. And mine is to try and not stop you."

Finn blinked a few times and looked at her. "You're letting me go?"

"Honey, if something happened to Puck over there, you would blame me for stopping you. You would think that you could have done something to save him and I—"

"I would never blame you."

"Yes you would. You would. Maybe not consciously or you'd try to pretend that things were okay, but we would never survive that."

"Rachel…"

"And we would never recover from that." She let out a small laugh. "It's okay, you know? It's a security detail in Afghanistan. You're gonna go over there. You're gonna do an LVAD or some procedure like that. And you're gonna come home, right? To your woman and your baby. Yes?"

"Yes," Finn said, cupping her face. "Okay? Just a couple of days." He kissed the top of her head. "Simple. I love you."

Rachel held his hands to her face. "I love you too."

He trailed his hands down her chest and rested them on her stomach. "I love you too," he said to the baby. He looked into Rachel's eyes. "I'll be back before you know. Okay?" he said, pulling her to him to kiss her as the elevator doors opened. He took one of her hands in his and held on to it for as long as he could as he walked out of the elevator.

Rachel watched him go and leaned her head back against the wall. She waited until the doors closed again before she broke down in tears.

Outside of the hospital, Sam and Santana were leaning against his car. "Wow."

"I told you I had a story," Santana said.

"If I ever saw that guy—"

"I know," Santana said. "I know you would have.

"Look at me last week, pressing you about the guys you like—"

"Oh come on. You couldn't have known. Sam, you are a good man. One of the best I've known in a long time. Maybe ever," she said, caressing his cheek.

"We're moving pretty fast, aren't we?"

"Yeah. That scare you?"

"No. Does it scare you?"

"Yeah," she said, going to kiss him.

Across town, a plane was sitting on a runway and three black SVUs pulled up to it. Puck got out of one of the cars and took a deep breath. He couldn't believe he was doing this.

"Hey!" he heard someone call from behind him. Puck turned around to see Finn walking towards him with a backpack strapped to his back. "You think they're gonna show a movie on this flight?"

"What are you doing here? I told you not to come."

"You didn't think I was gonna let you go alone, did you?"

"Not really. It was getting close though."

"Yeah, I had to work something out with Smalls to get on the plane," Finn said.

"Are you sure about this? Because if something happen—"

Finn laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I wouldn't be where I am today without you, okay?"

"I know."

Finn laughed. "Now we're even."

They started climbing up the stairs to get on the plane. "Try to keep up with me," Puck said, going up faster than Finn was.

"Just like that, huh?" He watched Puck get on the plane and stopped for a minute. He turned around to take in the San Antonio scene for the last time – at least for the next few days – and boarded the plane.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: Sunrise, Sunset**

 **Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is the first part of the finale! The good news is, The Night Shift got renewed for a third season, so at some point, there will be a third installment of Pumping Blood! Also, just like the first installment, this will end on a cliffhanger that you all will probably hate me for.**

Rachel tapped her fingers on her bedspread. It was two in the afternoon in San Antonio, meaning it was almost midnight in Kandahar and she still hadn't heard anything from Finn. She was really hoping that they'd get a chance to Skype – or at least talk on the phone – for a little before she went to the doctor's for a check up with the baby.

Thinking about the baby caused her to smile and her heart to beat a little faster, just like it did whenever she thought about what was in store for her and Finn's future.

She heard her phone start to vibrate and she reached out and grabbed it. "Hello?" she said breathlessly.

"Rachel?" she heard Finn say on the other end.

She let out a sigh of relief. " _Finn_. How are you?"

"We made it. We're—" Finn said as the line went dead.

"Finn?" Rachel asked, feeling her heart drop. She forgot how frustrating it could be to make calls overseas.

It was definitely one thing Rachel didn't miss.

"It's just another day," she whispered to herself as she got out of bed. Santana was going to show up any minute to go to the appointment with her and she didn't want to make her best friend wait for her.

In Afghanistan, Finn swore and resisted throwing his phone at the wall. All he'd wanted to do was tell Rachel him and Puck made it to Afghanistan without any issues and that he hoped her doctor's appointment would go well.

But, same as when he did his tours, the signals were weak and he could barely get through a phone conversation with her.

That night at the hospital, Kurt, Mercedes and Artie were walking around during some down time on their shift. "Look, there's my man being a badass," Kurt said, showing them a video on his phone.

"No way, that's Blaine?" Mercedes said.

"Yeah, training to be a combat instructor. He runs the course tonight to see if he makes the cut."

"I couldn't run that course with two legs," Artie said.

"You couldn't drive that course with a car," Mercedes said with a laugh. "Just face it, Artie. You know you're just a house cat."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you don't go out into the field and that you get thrown if you don't have the perfect conditions to practice medicine."

"I thought Puck told you to cut it out with the competition," Kurt said.

"Oh come on. He can handle it," Mercedes said as they walked to the nurses' station.

In another part of the hospital, Rachel was walking when she saw Brody come into the hospital. "Sorry about everything you're going through," she said.

"I'm not going through anything. I got off easy."

"Brody, it _was_ an accident."

"And because of that accident, a 16-year-old boy is looking at life in a chair. He can't move his right arm and he was a musician. He's not going to be able to do that anymore."

"Well, what do your lawyers say about their lawsuit?"

"I don't know. A bunch of stuff. Depositions and discoveries and I know I should care about that but all I can think about is Malik."

"But you still have to take care of yourself," Rachel said, cutting him off. "Are you going to meetings?"

"Yeah, every day. And no, I still haven't had a drink although, I'm not gonna lie, it hasn't been easy."

"If there's anything I can do…"

"I'll be upstairs if you need me," Brody said as he walked off.

Rachel walked to the nurses' station and got her coworkers' attention. "Okay everybody, listen up. You guys all know that Finn and Puck are still in Afghanistan, so that means we are short two attendings. But, lucky for us, we have a new doctor to help us out." She picked up the blue scrubs and stethoscope sitting out on the desk. "I would like to introduce you to Doctor Jesse St. James!" she said, handing him the scrubs as everyone started clapping. "I just got the email. You passed your boards! Congratulations, Doctor."

"Wow, thank you," he said, looking at the scrubs.

Sam hung up the phone. "Alright guys. Sorry to break up the celebration, but here's the deal. Dispatch just called. We have a big pileup on 90 west. Drivers are pinned inside vehicles and we need docs on site, stat."

"Kurt, you're up. Take, um," Rachel said, looking around.

"Me. I got this one," Artie said.

"Really?" Rachel asked. "It's yours. Go for it."

"Who's the house cat now?" Artie whispered to Mercedes as Rachel pulled out her phone, feeling it vibrate in her pocket.

Rachel smiled when she saw a message from Finn.

 _Wow, 120 degrees in Kandahar. Makes Texas seem chilly!_

Her smiled grew wider as she sent him a video. _We miss you!_ she added.

Finn and Puck pulled up to the tents in Afghanistan and looked around, unbelieving that they were back again. "Damn it," Finn said, looking at his phone. "I just lost my signal again."

"I'm amazed it worked this long," Puck said. "So, Rachel's gonna be showing in a few weeks. When are you going to spill the beans?"

"I don't know. It's her call. Pretty soon, though, I guess."

"Just as nasty as I remember," Puck said, looking around the camp again. "Thanks again for coming with me, Finn."

"No problem. We'll be fine," Finn said as he started fishing around for something in his pockets. "I brought Lucky," he said, pulling out a poker chip.

"I can't believe you still carry that around."

"Hey, don't hate on Lucky, pal. She got me through three tours."

"Hey, you must be Smalls' doctor buddies," someone said, coming out from one of the tents. "I'm Riley."

"Noah Puckerman and this is Finn Hudson. You can call me Puck."

"Hey, a fellow Irish," Riley said, shaking Finn's hand. "You boys are a long way from Texas."

"Yeah, we're here for Ali Noristani. He was our unit translator. He has a heart failure so we brought a pump to keep him alive until we can get him to a transplant station," Puck said.

"Bad news. His wife, Farah, showed up here earlier. Said he was too sick to make the trip. They took him to a clinic about 50 clicks down the road."

"Okay, well, let's go get him," Finn said, sharing a look with Puck.

"Sorry, clinic's in the Taliban hot zone. We're ghosts here."

"Listen," Puck said. "This might seem crazy to you, but Ali, he's one of us. One morning, locals brought a boy with a fever to my cash tent. I examined him and lifted the blanket off and he was strapped to a bomb. Ali heard him say a martyr prayer, grabbed the detonator—" Puck said, starting to get choked up.

"He saved hundreds of Rangers' lives that day," Finn finished. "And we traveled halfway around the world to return the favor. If we don't implant the LVAD pump, he'll die."

Riley looked at the two of them and nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Let's ride," he said. "Saddle up," he said, handing them guns.

"We're doctors now. Not soldiers."

"Okay, doc. But the Taliban doesn't care who you are. If this goes south, we all end up with our heads cut off on CNN. Come on," he said, leading them towards a humvee.

The crash site scene was pure chaos. Kurt ran around with a flashlight in his hands, trying to find victims to get to the hospital. "I told you this was a bad idea," someone said, getting wheeled away on a gurney.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked.

"Jordan and Devin Lawson, brother and sister. They got sandwiched at 80 miles an hour. Stable and ready to transport.

"Please! Over here!" someone else called out.

"Who's out there?" Artie asked.

"Haven't gotten to him yet. We're a little swamped," the paramedic said.

"I'll go," Artie said. He ran over to where some of the crashed cars were and saw someone sprawled on the roadside. He bent down to check for a pulse.

"Finding anything?" Kurt asked, running over.

"Faint pulse but he's alive."

"Let's get him packaged up and to the hospital ASAP."

"Someone help me!" the same person from before yelled.

"I got him," Kurt said, looking down at the pavement. "He's critical. Go help him."

Artie ran over to the car. "Stay calm, I'm Doctor Abrams. What's your name?"

"Sid Baines. My seatbelt's jammed. I think I smell gas."

Artie turned the flashlight on and looked around the inside of the car, noticing a child's seat. "Do you have a kid in the car?"

"Just dropped him off at my ex-wife's. You gotta get me out of here."

"Yeah, okay," Artie said. He pulled open the car door and grabbed the scissors from his medevac bag and started cutting off the seatbelt. "Let's get you out of here," he said, pulling Sid from the car.

"My leg!" Sid said as they started hobbling away.

They got a few feet away from the car and then it went up in flames, sending them both crashing into the pavement, Artie's head thumping against the road.

In Afghanistan, Finn and looked around, still trying to take in everything that was happening as Riley drove them to where Ali was. They got out of the humvee when they got to the medical tent and looked around, trying to find him among the bloody bodies. "Where are the clinic docs?" Finn asked.

"Taliban put a price on their head. They had to scatter," Riley said.

Puck kept looking around for Ali. "Hey. Ali, it's me," Puck said, walking over to where Ali was laying in bed.

"Puck?" he asked weakly. "You're here. You saw Farah? Is she safe?"

"She's fine. She's at the base. She told us where to find you."

"I didn't think you would come."

"I told you I would," Puck said, getting ready to treat Ali.

"People say a lot of things. But I shouldn't have doubted you," Ali said, breathing heavily. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Puck turned around and gestured to Finn. "This is Finn."

"I figured. Puck told me a lot about you. Real pain in his ass. Or maybe that was lost in translation."

"We brought you some medicine," Finn said, walking over to Ali's bed.

"Try to stay quiet and save your strength," Puck said.

"Puck, looks like they had trouble getting IV access. We need to get his pressure up before we move him," Finn said, taking off his backpack.

"We'll start a central line."

"Hey, we got a welcome wagon," Riley said, coming over from the entrance to the tents.

"Maybe they need help," Puck said.

"No. If the good guys know we're here, the bad guys do, too."

"He needs fluids running first. 15 minutes."

"You've got 10," Riley said, going back over to the tent entrance to keep an eye out for any trouble.

Back at the hospital, Kurt was bringing Artie in on a gurney. "Multiple victims coming in from the pileup. First is one of ours."

"Don't worry, sweetie. We'll take care of you," Rachel said, meeting up with the gurney.

"What the hell happened?" Mercedes asked.

"He tried his best Finn impersonation and almost got blown up by a car. He's got altered mental status and a second degree burn on the right hand."

"You'll be fine, Artie," Brody said, meeting up with them. "Let's get you to CT to clear your head and neck and get you some pain meds for that burn. We'll have someone drive you home."

"I'm fine, Brody, I really am."

"No, Artie—"

"We're understaffed and I just want to help. Better than me sitting at home looking at my burn all night."

Rachel sighed. "If the CT is negative, it's fine."

"How's the mummy man?" Sam asked one of the paramedics coming in.

"Ejected through his windshield. Multiple lacerations to his face and scalp. We lost pulse on scene and he's been down for 30 minutes," she said as Sam started doing chest compressions. "Pupils fixed and dilated."

"What's your assessment, Doctor St. James?" Rachel asked, helping them bring in the gurney.

"Down for this long? Sounds like DOA."

"Most likely," Rachel said. "Continue CPR and give another round of meds. If that doesn't work, call it," she said, taking him to a trauma room.

"Me? Pronounce him?"

"He's your patient," Rachel said as she ran off. "Kurt! What's up now?"

"Sid Baines, restrained driver from the head-on collision that caused the pileup. Likely mid tibia fracture, closed. Passed a breathalyzer on the scene."

"Okay, Mercedes, trauma two," Rachel called.

"This is Jordan and Devin Lawson. The sister has head trauma, scalp laceration. No LOC," Kurt said, helping to bring in more victims. "Brother has facial trauma with a seatbelt sign. Vitals are stable."

"I'll take the sister in trauma one. Kurt, I want you to manage the floor and any new incoming. You might as well step into those chief resident crocs now," Rachel said, putting on surgical gloves.

"I like the sound of that."

Rachel smiled at him as she walked into the trauma room. "Hi, I'm Doctor Berry and you must be Jordan. So, tell me what happened tonight?"

"My brother and I are moving to Orlando from Hondo."

"Hondo?" Rachel asked, listening to Jordan's heart. "Is that a real place?"

"It's a two stoplight town down I90. Guy in front of us slams on his brakes. I hit him, someone hits us. We just kept spinning. It was scary."

"I can imagine that it was. Alright, let's take a look at this," Rachel said, peeling back the bandage. "Looks like you're gonna need a couple of stitches but you are gonna be just fine. Who's in Orlando? Your parents?"

"My uncle Tim. My mom died giving birth to Devin and my dad died last year. Lung cancer. So I dropped out of school and became his guardian."

"That's tough. You're what, 18?"

"I was flunking out anyways. I'll just take the GED sometime."

"Still, that's a lot to take on."

"I need to, uh, I need to check on my brother," Jordan said, trying to get up. "Ow!"

"Slow down," Rachel said, gently pushing her back into bed. "Your brother is with one of our best doctors. We're going to worry about you, okay? Jocelyn, let's get her set up for a head CT."

"No. Thank you. I'm fine."

"Jordan, you took a really bad blow to the head. This is just going to give us a snapshot of your situation."

"My situation is I have 80 bucks on me. Half of that is in quarters and I don't have any insurance. So no tests, okay?"

"Okay. Why don't you just let us suture you then, alright?" Rachel asked. "I am going to see what I can do though. Jocelyn, can you set us up for irrigation?"

Across the hospital, Devin was getting an ultrasound down. "Freaky. What is that?"

"That's your liver. Your belly looks clear. Were you driving an older model car?" Brody asked.

"1971 Ford Maverick. How can you tell?"

"Lap belt injury. They phased those belts out in the 80s. They were ripping people in half."

"What do you drive? I'm guessing a Beemer? Or maybe a Lexus?"

"Rental," Brody said. "a '71 Maverick, huh? Must be a car guy."

"My mom had it in high school. I kept the car running, rebuilt the transmission, brakes. I guess it's totaled now."

"You did all that yourself? You're 14."

"So? I looked it up on YouTube. I like to tear cars down, see how they run, put them together again."

"That's how I got my start too," Brody said. "Only I didn't have YouTube. We had to actually read a manual and figure it out for ourselves."

"Okay, grandpa."

"Grandpa?" Brody said with a laugh.

"Hi there. I'm Doctor Berry," Rachel said, coming into the trauma room. "I've been taking care of your sister. I just wanted to see how things are going."

"Eyelid laceration and corneal abrasion. Other than that, pretty lucky," Brody said.

"That's me, lucky," Devin said sarcastically.

"Well, your sister's pretty worried about you."

"Worried her plan got ruined? She's dumping me on my a-hole uncle in Florida."

"She mentioned that things have been tough and I'm sorry to hear that," Rachel said.

"So what's her solution? Bail on my ass? To hell with her, then."

"I will let her know you're okay," Rachel said.

They watched her walk out and Brody turned towards Devin. "You always this angry?"

"Just since I was born."

In another trauma room, Sam was still performing CPR on the patient brought in. "Hold CPR," Jesse said. "He's been down for 30."

"Still pulseless," Sam said.

"No heart beat, either. 11:57, time of death," Jesse said, looking at his watch. "Through a windshield. What a way to go out.

Sam nodded as a dog barking ringtone went off from somewhere in the room. "Real funny, Sam. Real damn funny," Jesse said sarcastically.

"I didn't do it. It's his – it's his phone," Sam said, pointing to where it was sitting on a chair with his other personal belongings. "Medics must have missed it." He clicked on the message and read it. "Do we need eggs? Where are you? Call me. Oh," Sam said, handing the phone to Jesse.

"Damn. It's his wife. She doesn't even know he's dead. And I have to call her."

Kurt walked in to another trauma room. "Next thing I know, the other guy crosses over and swerves right into me. I never saw it coming," Sid said.

"Ortho's coming down to set that broken ankle," Kurt said.

"How's Artie?" Mercedes asked.

"He's got a nasty burn on his hand thanks to you," Kurt said, typing something on one of the computers.

"You're blaming me?"

"You pushed his buttons. He's like a little brother. He had to prove you wrong. And he almost got himself killed doing it." He glared at Mercedes before walking over to the hospital bed. "Okay, Sid. Anyone we should call? Boss, girlfriend, wife?"

"Ex-wife. And god no. Unless you want to make her day."

Kurt started doing an exam on him and Sid winced. "Belly pain?"

"Not from the accident. It's my Crohn's flaring up."

"Are you kidding me?" Mercedes asked, looking at his blood work. "You were driving high."

"No way. I'd never drive high."

"Well, your tox screen says you tested positive for THC," Kurt said, taking the results from Mercedes.

"Well that was because of my Crohn's. that flare up I was telling you about. I go to Colorado to get medical marijuana for pain. Otherwise I couldn't work. I just do enough to get by."

"Look, I know it helps. It got my sister through chemo. It's just that she used it at home. Not while she was driving. You may have caused the accident which killed a man and our friend was hurt saving you."

"Doctor Jones!" Kurt said. "I need a quick word."

The two of them walked out of the room for a second and she crossed her arms. "What?"

"You're a doctor. Not a police officer or a DA."

"He shouldn't be driving high."

"Even if that's the case, it's still not your job. Your job is to finish working on Sid. Clear?"

"Crystal," she said, taking back the clipboard.

In the dead man's room, Jesse rang out a wash cloth and started trying to wipe away some of the blood. "Is this the windshield guy?" Artie asked, coming into the room.

"Yeah. His wife had no idea. Still doesn't. I had to call her to come in."

"Use these," Artie said, handing Jesse a pair of scissors. "No one should have to see their loved one like that, you know?"

"Yeah. How do you feel?" Jesse asked.

"A little woozy. But all things considered…" he said, trailing off.

"Look at that," Jesse said. "That's a bullet wound."

"This guy was shot. Stop wiping. I need to go call 911," Artie said as he walked to the phone set up in the room. "This is Doctor Abrams from San Antonio Memorial. I need to talk to someone in homicide. That DOA from the pileup. I think it's a homicide."

In Afghanistan, things weren't looking good for Ali. "Puck, his pulse is weaker. I can't access the vein. Any luck up there?"

"No good. Too collapsed from dehydration."

"If we don't get his pressure up, he'll never make the LVAD. No chance they have an ultra sound or an IO drill?" Finn asked, looking around.

"They're lucky to have a working stethoscope here."

"Let's go old school and do a venous cut down."

"Dissect down to the saphenous vein directly. Good call, Finn," Puck said.

Riley watched as an enemy truck pulled up. "It's time to go, docs."

"I'm saving his life," Finn said.

"No, sorry. We're out of time. We need to go. Now."

"We're not ready," Puck said as gunfire ripped through the tent, bullet bouncing off the metal on the beds.

"We're under hostile fire," Riley said into his walkie talkie. "Requesting drone backup at coordinates Bravo Mary Charlie."

"You okay?" Puck whispered as he checked Ali's pulse.

"Yeah. You?" Finn whispered back.

"They retreat?" Puck asked when Riley came back into the tent.

"Yeah, for now. We're pressing our luck being here."

"See? Lucky saved us," Finn said, taking the chip out of his pocket.

"You and that stupid chip," Puck said.

"Stupid chip? Before my first tour, my brother took us to Atlantic City. I won five grand playing craps. This was from my first pot."

"Good story. I don't care. You have five minutes."

Back at the hospital, Rachel kept looking at her phone, hoping to hear something from Finn about her message from earlier. She sighed and stepped out of the elevator, seeing Jordan walking around. "What are you doing up?" she asked.

"I just had to go to the bathroom. The nurse said it was okay."

"It's fine. I got some good news. I spoke with accounting, and they've agreed to do your scan pro bono. So it's probably going to take another 20 minutes or so."

"20 minutes? That was fast."

"Well, I told you I'd work something out. Jocelyn, can you get her prepped for CT?" Rachel asked.

"You got it," Jocelyn said, smiling.

"Hey, Rach, more incoming," Sam said, looking out at the ambulance bay.

"What happened?" Rachel asked Jesse, who was bringing in someone.

"Turns out my DOA was shot in the head. These two were shot a few miles from there. GSW to the abdomen on this one and GSW to the shoulder on that one. Kurt assessed them and we're taking them to the OR," Jesse said.

"And the cops think we have a sniper on our hands," Sam said.

"Sniper?" Santana asked, coming into the hospital. "No way."

"I thought you had the night off?" Rachel said.

"I just got called in. A flu bug hit the company really hard. Now I think I know why."

"Rachel, curtain three," Jocelyn said.

"Be careful out there," Rachel warned Santana before going to check on her patient.

"I will," Santana said, watching her walk off.

"You know, I think you might have caught some of that sniper flu too. Why don't you go back home tonight?" Sam said to Santana as they started walking together.

"I can't. There's calls all over the north side."

"Santana listen—"

"Don't worry. All the shooting incidents are on the south side. The cops are setting up roadblocks. Sick people need me, babe. I gotta go," she said, blowing him a kiss as she left the hospital.

Artie walked into Sid's room. "Hey, how do you feel?"

"There's the doctor who saved my life. Thanks for that. Did you hurt your hand?" he said, noticing the bandages.

"It's not that bad, I hope. Anyway, I just wanted to come in here and see how you're doing."

"Not great. That hot doc is a hard ass. The cops were in here, asking me questions," Sid said as he started coughing. "I told them that sniper dude drove right into me. I'm sorry for him, but you know—" Sid stopped talking as his coughing increased.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"I can't breathe," he wheezed.

Artie lowered the bed as his monitors started beeping. "Sid, your airway is closing up. I need to intubate to help you breathe, okay?" Artie tried to get the supplies open with one hand and cursed. "Kurt! Mercedes! Someone get in here please!"

"He's coding!" Heather said, walking into the room.

"I can't bag him."

"What's going on?" Kurt asked, putting on gloves as he walked in.

"His throat's closing up and I can't intubate with one hand."

"If he burned his trachea, intubation wouldn't have worked anyway," Kurt said, listening to his heart and lungs.

"His pulse ox is down to 84. I'll grab a crike kit."

"Too risky, he may be anticoagulated from Crohn's meds. Heather, get me the fiber optic. Artie, you're injured. We got this. Someone get me a six-oh ET tube," Kurt said.

Artie stepped to the side and watched them work. "Come on guys, stats are dropping."

Kurt glared at Artie and kept working. "Got the tubes in," he said as he started pumping air into the tubes.

"Stats are coming up," Artie said. "92 percent. Nice save Kurt."

"It shouldn't have even come to this. Where the hell is Mercedes?"

Across the hospital, Rachel went into Jordan's trauma room. "Hey? What are you doing?" she asked, seeing Jordan getting dressed to leave. "You're up next for CT."

"I told you I didn't want it."

"No, you said you couldn't afford it and now you can."

"I can't, okay? Devin and me, we're taking the last Greyhound to Atlanta and it leaves in 30 minutes. I'm fine. Really."

"Well, we need to be sure. It'll take an hour tops."

"But I told you, the bus leaves in a half hour," Jordan said, grabbing some stuff and throwing it into her backpack before slinging it over her shoulder.

"So catch another one. Jordan, I will put you both up in a hotel if your CT is clear. What's the rush?" Rachel asked.

Jordan sighed. "Devin? Where are you going?"

"Why do you care?"

"I got us bus tickets to Atlanta."

"Well I'm not going," he said, trying to leave the hospital.

"Devin, wait," Rachel said, going after him as Jordan screamed out in pain.

"Stop yelling!"

"She's in pain," Rachel said, going over to her. "Look at me."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Can you tell me your name?" Rachel asked.

"I can't. I can't."

"Can you tell me his name?" Rachel asked, pointing to Devin.

"I don't know. I don't know at all."

"She's having a brain bleed. Call CT and tell Brody to prep the OR," Rachel said to Sam. "I need a gurney please!"

Across the hospital, Artie left Sid's room and Mercedes ran after him. "Hey, I just heard about Sid. I can't believe I missed a burnt airway."

"Well, Sid is stable but I'd avoid Kurt if I were you."

"Well, that's pretty much impossible. I just…thank you for covering my ass."

"It was all Kurt. I couldn't really do much with my hand wrapped up," Artie said, holding it out to show Mercedes as he grabbed a pen with his good hand to write something down.

"I'm so sorry. I feel responsible. I forced you to—"

"How? You don't control me. I went out, I got hurt. That's what happens."

Kurt came out of one of the patient's exam rooms. "Mercedes, I need to speak with you." Artie nodded and walked away. "Where were you?"

"Kurt, I'm sorry. I was with Blaine and—"

"What? Blaine?"

"He's fine. He came in because his just broke his blade."

"So what about before Blaine? Your patient was pulled from a fire. Checking his airway is first-day intern stuff and you're supposed to be a resident in a couple of weeks?"

"I screwed up, I know."

"And you were pissed because you thought he caused the accident and you were wrong. And even if you were right, we treat everybody who comes through those doors the same. No matter what. You got that?"

"I got it."

"Now, his labs show a metabolic acidosis. Be a doctor, run the labs, figure out why," Kurt said as he walked off.

Across the hospital, Brody stepped off the elevator with Rachel. "The craniotomy we performed on Jordan was routine. There were no issues and post-op imaging show no new bleeding. But check this out," he said, holding up a tablet with Jordan's scans on them. "Diffuse atrophy in her cerebral cortex."

"She's 20 with the brain of an 80-year-old."

"This has to be genetic which means she's had it her whole life."

"Her cortisol levels are barely detectable," Rachel said, looking closer at the scans. Maybe that's why she didn't want a CT. She didn't want us to know she was dying."

"Why would she want to hide that?"

"It's a good question."

Brody felt his cell phone start vibrating and he pulled it out. "Hello? Thanks for calling, sir." He nodded at Rachel and walked off. "I wanted to speak with you directly about your son."

Rachel looked up from the tablet and saw Artie staring at his phone. "You alright, Artie?"

"Yeah, I mean, I can't intubate, I can't practice, but other than that, I'm all good."

"What you did was pretty stupid."

"I wanted to save the guy."

"And that's the firefighter's job. You save your patients by what you do here in the hospital. And if you ever want to be a surgeon, your hands are your franchise. You can't be rash in the field."

"I guess I did get a little overzealous."

"Well, sometimes we need to be shaken back into reality. I'm glad you're okay," Rachel said, grabbing a book as she started flipping through it.

Kurt pulled back one of the exam room curtains and saw Blaine in the hospital bed with one of the nurses. "Thanks for the heads up."

"I didn't get hurt, I just busted my blade in the race. Mercedes already called ortho to get a new one and I didn't want to bother the chief resident," Blaine said.

"Busted, huh? How'd you do?"

"Well, I finished the course. Ropes, tire, belly crawl…left it all on the field. Including my leg."

"I'm proud of you," Kurt said as he sat down. "I wouldn't have expected anything less. But Blaine, just remember, the training program only take the top 10 percent. I just don't want you getting your hopes up too high."

"You know what's funny? I don't even care. I felt like a Ranger again. I think that's worth more than anything."

"So all of this had nothing to do with me making chief resident. Because I was worried – I didn't know if—"

"Kurt, you have to stop walking on eggshells around me. I'm thrilled and proud of you," Blaine said, reaching out to take his hand. "Your wins are my wins. And vice versa. We're a team."

"I know. And I feel the same way. I just…I'm sorry for hovering. Old habits die hard."

"You still don't let your sister drive and she's 37."

"She's a terrible driver. Somebody's gonna get hurt."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Blaine said with a smile.

"I gotta run. But you can crash in my office until your prosthetic is ready," Kurt said, standing up.

"Your office? Look at you."

"Perks of being chief resident," Kurt said, opening the curtains to leave.

In Afghanistan, Puck walked over to where Finn was standing. "I hate this place."

Finn looked up from where he was. "Puck, take it easy."

"Take it easy? You could stand to take it less easy."

"What did I do?"

"Aren't you scared?"

"Yeah."

"Then why don't you act like it?"

"What good what that do?"

"So I don't feel like a coward for regretting to be here," Puck said.

"You wish you hadn't come?"

"Yes. I mean, Ali, I want to save him, but I'm feeling guilty and stupid for leaving my family. Aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I came because I wanted to help you."

"I wish you would stop saying that. It puts all this pressure on me."

"What pressure?" Finn asked, feeling confused.

"You're always reminding me that I saved you, I helped you. That you would have killed yourself without me."

"Because it's true."

"Okay, but it makes me responsible for you. I can't do that anymore, Finn. I can't do that. I have three kids that I have to take care of."

"You don't have to take care of me."

"You're here because of me! That makes me responsible for you. If you die or if you get messed up again—"

"I won't."

"You don't know that. You really don't know that. Stop playing like you're a cowboy where everything's gonna be cool. You don't know."

Riley came back into the tent. "Humvee's 20 yards away. My guys will cover you. Stay low, run fast, don't trip. Let's go."

"Look, Finn—"

"No, let's get him on gurney. I want to get out of here and I want to go home."

"I'm getting out of here in 30 seconds!" Riley yelled into the tent. "If you're not out here, you're on your own.

"Please, god, get us out of here," Puck said, lifting up Ali's gurney as him and Finn ran out from the tent and to the Humvee. Gunfire rang out as soon as they opened the tent flaps.

Back at the hospital, Rachel walked into Jordan's room. "Hey, honey. How you feeling?"

"Tired. They said I can't leave for a few days."

"Well, you're gonna need some time to recover from your surgery. This shot of cortisone should help you feel better. When were you diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy?" Rachel asked, Jordan looking up at her with panicked eyes. "I saw the brain atrophy on your CT scan."

"My, uh, my pediatrician detected it when I was five. And my parents got pregnant and decided to have Devin for the bone marrow transplant I need to save my life someday."

"So he was a savior sibling."

"Then, you know, my mom died during labor and he was – he was just so lost. Right from go."

"I'm sorry, Jordan. I need to know if you've had any symptoms."

"Not until a few months ago."

"So why don't you ask your brother for the bone marrow transplant?"

"I didn't think he could handle it. He's so angry at the world."

"This is why you wanted him to meet your uncle, right? While you still can? Jordan, is protecting a lie worth dying for? Because, honey, that day is coming."

"I've lied to him his whole life. I can't tell him."

"So let me do it," Rachel said.

Across the hallway, Mercedes was in Sid's trauma room. "This doesn't make any sense. He should be breathing off the excess acid, but his pH levels just keep dropping," she said as the monitor started beeping quickly again. "Damn it. We lost his pulse. Get a crash cart in here. Come on, Sid," she said as she started doing chest compressions.

Across town, Santana and her partner drove to the spot where there was supposed to be someone. "Dispatch said it was a cardiac arrest?" she asked, looking around.

"Yeah, a man down in a Ford pickup."

"You sure we got the right spot?"

A few yards away, someone picked up a gun and aimed it at the ambulance. Whoever it was pulled the trigger and the glass from the windshield shattered.

At the hospital, one of the cops who was there got a notice from his radio. "Shots fired. We have paramedics under fire at north side warehouse," dispatch said over his walkie talkie as he passed by the nurses' station. "Believed to be a sniper."

Rachel heard the last part and dropped her pen, turning around to face Sam with a horrified look on her face.

"Officer, where was that?" Sam asked. "Did they say what paramedic?"

"Did they say what rig?" Rachel asked.

"Not at liberty, ma'am," the police officer responded as he started walking away.

"Look, part of our team is out there," Rachel said, following after him.

Sam pulled his phone out from a pocket on his scrubs and dialed Santana's number.

"What's going on?" Kurt asked, coming into Sid's room. "I thought everything was under control?"

"He's coded from severe acidosis," Mercedes said, continuing to pump at his chest. "I still don't know what's causing it and increasing his respirations didn't help."

"Lab just called. Lactic acid is 25," Heather said.

"25? I've never heard of lactic acid that high."

"It's like he's suffocating but his blood oxygen level's normal," Kurt said.

"That's it," Mercedes said. "He's got plenty of oxygen in his blood but his cells can't use it. Open a cyanide kit now!"

"Cyanide poisoning? From the plastic burning in the car," Kurt said, shaking his head. "We need to get this in him quick."

The two of them put the antidote's into his IV and waited. "Stop the CPR," Kurt said as Heather kept bagging him.

"Nothing's happening," Mercedes said.

"Give the meds a chance to work."

Mercedes waited a few seconds longer. "There. I feel something," she said, taking his pulse. "Monitor shows sinus. He's back."

"That was being a doctor," Kurt said as he walked out of the trauma room.

In the lobby, the TV was turned on to a news station and the anchor was reading the most recent information about the accident. "We are hearing that a paramedic has been shot by the sniper on the north side. No news on their condition at this time."

"Dispatch is saying that one of them got hit. They don't know who but they're heading in now," Sam said to Rachel.

"How can they not know?"

"I don't know. I can only tell you what they told me."

Artie watched from afar as Jesse told the first victim's wife that her husband didn't make it. He offered a few words of condolences and left the break room. "Hey, uh, is that the first sniper victim's wife?" Artie asked as Jesse started walking away.

"Yeah. They were married two weeks ago. Postponed their honeymoon because of his job. They're supposed to be in Hawaii right now."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I just feel weird and guilty about being upset."

"Don't. Telling the families is the hardest part of the job."

"Does it ever get easier?"

"I wish I could tell you yes."

One of the ambulances pulled up to the hospital and unloaded the newest sniper victim.

"Santana!" Sam said.

"I'm fine."

"What the hell happened?" Rachel asked.

"We got called into a setup. Son of a bitch coward shot Sara, blew out our windshield."

"Let's get Sara to CT and call into the OR," Rachel said.

"I'm fine. It's just my arm," she said as the other paramedics started taking her there.

"Wait, are you okay?" Sam asked, taking Santana's hand.

"I'm fine."

"Because I—"

"Not now, Sam. I have to debrief the cops. We'll talk about it later, okay?" she said as she ran off.

In Afghanistan, they made it back to base safely and were working on Ali's surgery. "How's Riley?" Puck asked.

"He's good. It was a through and through wound," Finn said, getting the surgical gown put on. "He'll be limping for a few days but he'll be okay. How's Ali?"

"Getting there. I'm suturing in the outflow graft now."

Finn nodded and walked over, accepting the tools from one of the nurses and Puck looked up at him. "I'm sorry about before. You know, I was scared and I didn't want to die. I don't wanna be here."

"I don't wanna be here, either. I'm sorry I wanted to help you."

"That's not what I'm saying," Puck said.

"It's exactly what you're saying. Puck, I get it. I came back from the war. I was drunk, I was a mess. I was out of my mind."

"You don't have to—"

"You asked me if I was scared. You know what I'm scared of? I'm scared of hurting Rachel again. But I'm just not sure if I'm helping or ruining her life. I love her. She's my family. And yet, I came here. I'm about to be a dad. If I die…that's what I'm scared of. Not being there for Rachel and the baby. I just wanna go home."

"Yeah, me too. You wanna help me with this drive line?"

"Oh yeah."

"Okay, let's start at 6000 RPM," Puck said.

"It's all hooked up," Finn said as the machine beeped. "Flow is four liters. You did it, Puck. Nice job. Glad you came back now?" he asked, bumping fists with him.

"Now let's close his chest and get the hell out of here," Puck said as the electricity started to falter.

Back at the hospital, Rachel was talking to Devin about Jordan's condition. "So she was born with it? She's had it her whole life?"

"Yeah. It's a rare genetic disease that attacks your brain, your adrenal glands, your bones. And it's only gonna get worse."

"Why didn't Jordan tell me she was sick?"

"Because your mom died. She thought it would be too hard on you. She didn't want you to worry about her."

"Why does everybody lie to me?"

"It's not a question of lying. It's protecting," Rachel said.

"They told me my mom died when I was little. Then later I found out she died having me. When my dad was sick, he said he'd be fine. And six months later, he was dead. Jordan said she'd take care of me, tried to dump me on my uncle and then hide the fact that she's dying. That's not lying?"

"Devin, I am so sorry. I know that this must be—"

"No you don't! Screw this family. Screw everyone," he said, pushing himself out of the chair.

"Devin, wait. Listen to me. Your sister needs your bone marrow or she will die."

"Yeah? Well then she should have asked," he said as he walked out of the hospital.

Rachel sighed and Brody came up next to her. "He's not gonna give Jordan the bone marrow?"

"He's too angry. And if we don't get through to him, he's gonna lose her," Rachel said as she walked away.

Brody followed Devin outside. "You waiting on a ride?"

"Don't even talk. I'm not doing it."

"Okay. If that's what you want."

"You have no idea what this is like," Devin said.

"Yeah, but I do know what it feels like to question who you are. That part I get. I was adopted and my parents were really great. Told me about it, talked to me about it. I even had pictures of my birth parents so I knew what they looked like and had a sense of them. But…anyway," Brody said as he started walking back into the hospital.

"But what?" Devin asked.

"You wonder about your mom, what she was like, what your life would be like if she was still here?"

"Of course."

"Me too. Me too," Brody said, moving to sit down next to Devin. "Don't get me wrong. I love my parents. I couldn't feel happier or luckier to have my family but still, I can't help but wonder…what would my life be like if I'd grown up with my birth mother."

"Did you ever meet her?"

"She sent me a letter once. I was in my residency and she wanted to see me. I was torn. I felt like I would be betraying my parents, even though they encouraged me to do it. I just…I don't know. Maybe I was scared. Maybe I didn't want to be disappointed."

"So, what happened?"

"I sent her a letter back."

"What'd she say?"

"Well, that's the thing. I waited almost a year to send it. And by then, she had passed away. You do what you need to do, Devin. It's your life. But I can tell you there are some choices that are final. And you never get a second chance. And I gotta say, I would kill for a do over.

At the end of his shift, Kurt and Blaine were leaving the hospital together. "So, you want to move out of our apartment?"

"It's stupid to rent when we could own. And it would be all ours. Chief resident doubles my salary. I've been looking online," Kurt said, handing Blaine some papers.

"I am kind of tired of our neighbors and their yappy dachshunds."

"Yeah, is there a better reason to move? I want to kill those things."

"I'm seeing a lot of picket fences. And a swing set," Blaine said, looking up from one of the pages.

"Yeah, for the nieces and nephews. And maybe one day…I don't know."

Blaine smiled and pulled out his cell phone that was ringing. "This is it. This is my commander." He looked at Kurt, who smiled and nodded. "Captain Anderson here. Really? Yes, sir. Very good news. Yes, sir. Really? No, uh…thank you, sir," Blaine said, hanging up the phone.

"You did it!" Kurt said, throwing his arms around his boyfriend as he kissed him. "I'm so proud of you. Power couple right here, right? Let's go look at houses. I'm so pumped."

"Kurt, I made the top one percent. They want me to train the trainers."

"Are you kidding? A promotion? That's even better!"

"No, no it isn't. I wouldn't work in Texas anymore. I'd have to move to South Carolina," Blaine said, causing the smile on Kurt's face to fade quickly.

In the break room, Santana was watching the TV. "The death total of the San Antonio Sniper is now at six. Police are theorizing there are two snipers working in tandem, attacking first responders and shutting down the panicked city."

Sam came into the break room and sat down next to her. "I gotta say, Santana, when I heard your ambulance got shot up, I—"

"I know," she said, reaching out to take his hand. "I was so scared. This kind of thing really makes you think about you feel."

"I couldn't take it if anything ever happened to you."

"I couldn't take it if anything ever happened to you," she whispered back to him, tears starting to form.

"Artie, where have you been? I was paging you!" Mercedes said, following him into the elevator.

"Yeah, I need to find Rachel," he said, trying to loosen the bandage on his hand.

"Artie, I'm so sorry. I know we haven't been seeing eye-to-eye, but I—"

"Stop!" he said, cutting her off. "Something's wrong."

"Let me, okay?" Mercedes said, taking his hand to unwrap the bandage. She pulled it off and gasped. "Oh my god."

Artie's hand was blistering and bubbling.

"I can't – I can't move my fingers."

"It's okay. It's gonna be okay," Mercedes said, trying to keep calm.

Brody walked into the scrub room and Rachel followed him in. "Hey," she said with a smile on her face. "I got your message. How'd it go?"

"Great. Got the marrow. Devin was a perfect match for Jordan."

"Just like her parents planned," Rachel said, breathing a sigh of relief as Brody washed his hands.

"Just not exactly how they planned. You think you can protect your children. Then life happens."

"I'm starting to see that," Rachel said, looking down at her hands.

"There's something else," he said, shaking off his hands before grabbing for some towels. "I settled with Malik's family. It's over. I gave them everything that they were asking for."

"Which was…?"

"Everything I have. My insurance only covered so much."

"Wow. So, you're wiped out?"

"Yeah. I am. And it's the best decision I ever made. I feel like I can breathe again for the first time in weeks. And it's not going to get Malik back everything that he lost, obviously. But it will help keep him comfortable."

"Okay," Rachel said with a smile. "So, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for the past few weeks, but, um…" Rachel said as she started shaking. "I didn't think it was the right time." A confused look crossed her face. "Ye….ye—"

"Rachel!" Brody said, reaching out to catch her before she could fall to the ground. "Help! I need help in here!" he said, trying to wake her up.

In Afghanistan, Finn finally had a signal again. "Finally. We got coverage," he said, clicking on the messages from Rachel. He clicked on the sonogram picture and watched the video that Rachel sent him of the baby, a smile growing on his face.

"Did you hear?" Puck asked, coming over to where Finn was standing.

"Hear what?" he asked, unwillingly tearing his eyes away from the video.

"I just talked to Quinn. There's a sniper in San Antonio. Killed six people."

"Oh my god. "

"We need to get the hell out of here."

"Hey, Riley?" Finn asked. "What's the status on that flight? We need to leave."

"Yeah, that ain't happening. Your flight's grounded. All the flights are grounded because of the storm. You aren't leaving. Looks like that damn chip isn't as lucky as you thought."

"I should call Rachel," Finn said, dialing her number as he walked off.

Back at the hospital, Brody, Sam and Santana got Rachel on a gurney and were rushing her to radiology. "I want a stat EKG, EEG and MRI. Send LFTs and co-ags."

On the nurses' station desk, Rachel's phone and bag laid their innocently and her phone started ringing as Finn tried to call her to tell her his bad news.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: Darkest Before Dawn**

 **Author's Note: This is it. The final chapter in Pumping Blood Season Two. I've had so much fun writing this and I hope you all have enjoyed it. This episode of the show caused me multiple tears and tissues, especially during the flashbacks (which will be in italics in the chapter). As for what's next, NBC has renewed the show for a third season, so as soon as that premieres, expect me to start writing Pumping Blood Season Three! If you'd like updates on Pumping Blood or any of my other stories and writing, feel free to follow me on Twitter ( mslaurenmfanfic). I post about my writing and sometimes tweet my reactions to TV shows because I love TV. As always, I don't own Glee, The Night Shift or any of its characters.**

 **Now, let's move on to the story so you can find out what's going to happen with Rachel and the baby!**

"God, Finn needs to pick up his phone," Santana said a few hours later, pacing outside of Rachel's hospital room as she waited on news about her best friend. Every so often, she look into the room, just to look at the machines she was hooked up to.

Santana need her best friend and the baby to live.

"San, you do realize he's in Afghanistan, right? There's probably no way you're going to be able to get in contact with him," Sam said. "Why don't you hand me your phone and we can go get some breakfast."

Santana stopped pacing and glared at him. "My best friend is in the hospital and her boyfriend can't be here for her. I'm not leaving," she said, dialing Finn's number again.

On her fifteenth call, she finally got through to him. "Santana? What's going on?"

"It's Rachel," Santana said. "Something happened. We're not sure yet. Brody's been running tests—"

"Was she hit by the sniper?" Finn asked with an edge of panic in voice, causing Puck to look in his direction.

"No, she was talking to Brody and he said she just collapsed. I'm here with her now but you need to hurry up and get back here."

"We're trying to get out but there's a storm here. I don't know how long it'll be. But San, tell Rach—" The phone disconnected and Finn resisted the urge to throw it against the wall. "Damn it!"

"Is everything okay?" Puck asked.

"No, nothing is okay. It's Rachel. Something happened to her and—" Finn said, stopping himself before he could say it out loud. _Rachel isn't going to die_ , he thought to himself. "God, I want to be home."

" _Promise me you'll make it back in one piece," Rachel said quietly as they drove to the airport for one of his tours in Afghanistan._

 _Finn turned to face her and noticed the tear that was sliding down her face. "You know I can't promise you that. But I will do my damnedest."_

 _She sniffed and nodded. "At least this time I have your shirt to wear. Last time you left, you didn't leave anything for me."_

" _And I didn't hear the end of it for a week," Finn said with a smile on his face._

 _Rachel sighed and reached across to turn on the radio. She smiled to herself as she heard the opening notes of Faithfully start playing on the station. "This is our song," she said, a small smile on her face. "I think of you every time I hear it."_

" _Our song, huh?" Finn said, laying a hand on the center console. Rachel held on to the steering wheel with one hand as she laid her hand on top of his. "I like the sound of that."_

"You know she's going to be okay, right?" Puck said.

"You don't know that, Puck. Something could happen to her. Or something could happen to the baby. Or even worse…"

"No, you can't think like that," he said, cutting him off. "Nothing is going to happen. Rachel is one of the strongest people I know. She's going to fight for her life and the baby's life. They're both going to be okay."

The next night, chaos was still raging in San Antonio. At the hospital, the staff had their eyes glued to the TV as a standoff was in progress. "San Antonio has been under siege for the past 48 hours," the reporter said. "The death toll now stands at eight and police believe they have the sniper surrounded in the north side parking structure. SWAT and medical personnel are on the scene."

At the scene, Kurt leaned over to Santana. "It took some balls for you to come back out here," he said.

"You know what they say, gotta get right back on the horse, right?" she said as they started running.

"Whoever said that has probably never been shot at." The two of them ran to a safe place and he turned towards her. "There's nothing wrong with being scared. It just proves you're normal."

"Oh, I'm scared. But I was more scared if I didn't come out tonight, that I never would again, you know?"

"I felt that every day in Iraq."

Back at the hospital, more ambulances brought traumas and victims to be treated. "Sam," Jesse said, walking up to where he was standing. "I just checked on Rachel. She's still the same. Any word on Santana and Kurt on the site?"

"No, everyone's on radio silence. Just trying to get a glimpse from the news report," Sam responded, glancing towards the television set.

"Sam!" Finn called, rushing into the hospital with Puck bringing in Ali behind him. "Where is she? Where's Rachel?"

"Up in ICU."

"Go, I got this," Puck said.

"Brody's with her," Sam called. Turning to Puck, he added, "Let's take him to trauma two."

"Sam, call Quinn and let her know I'm here," Puck said. "And let her know I'll be home in an hour."

Finn ran towards the elevator and pushed the button multiple times. He'd never been so nervous to get in an elevator before. The doors opened and he stepped in, ripping off the surgical gloves as he pushed the floor he needed and waited for elevator to take him there.

He got off the elevator and ran down the hallways, trying to find which room she was. He finally saw Brody watching her monitors and ran in the room, completely out of breath.

"Her MRI showed a stroke," Brody said, turning around to see Finn come into the room.

"Clotting from the pregnancy?"

"Looks that way."

"You gave her TPA?"

"Yeah and we broke up the clot. But she had significant swelling in her brain and she's been in a coma since the stroke." He gave Finn a once over. "I've been here with her the whole time."

"How's the baby?"

"The baby looks fine. For now. We're monitoring things."

Finn took a deep breath and held one of Rachel's hands. "Hey," he said as he gently started stroking her face.

"I'll give you some privacy," Brody said as he walked out of the room. Finn nodded and pulled over a chair to sit down on.

Down in the trauma rooms, Puck was examining Ali. "So what happens now?" his wife asked.

"We'll try to make Ali as comfortable as possible until the donor heart arrives. Then Doctor Weston will perform the transplant," Puck said as Brody came in. "Hey. How's Rachel?"

"Not good. Still in a coma. We need the swelling to go down."

"Finn's never going to forgive himself for not being here with her," Puck said, shaking his head. "He was a wreck on the plane."

"Yeah, well, maybe he never should have left," Brody said, earning a glare from Puck. "Hi, I'm Doctor Weston. Welcome."

"This is my wife, Farah," Ali said, gesturing to where she was standing as Puck took his temperature.

"Brody, can I talk to you?" Puck said, looking at what the thermometer said.

The two of them stepped out of the room and Puck sighed. "He's got a temp of 101."

"And we can't do an organ transplant on someone running a fever. If Ali has an infection, we put in a new heart, put him on immunosuppressants he could die."

"I know," Puck said. "That's why I'm telling you. I didn't want to say anything in front of them. So, we figure out what's causing the fever."

"Is something wrong?" Farah asked, opening the door.

"No, everything's fine. We just need to run a few tests," Puck said.

In the lobby, everyone's eyes were glued to the screen. "Sources tell us that law enforcement are in fact communicating with the sniper."

"Okay, people, come on," Sam said, clapping his hands to get their attention. "We can't stare at the damn TV all night long. Let's start treating our homeless guests in the waiting room. They probably haven't seen any medical care in a long time."

"Hey, Artie," Jesse said, stopping Artie as he walked by. "Can you help me diagnose?"

"Yeah, no problem," Artie said.

"What's the situation with your hand?" Jesse asked as they started walking.

"Still a little weak. The infection's gone but I have some nerve damage. My dad's looking up surgical options for me."

"If anyone could help, it would be your dad."

"I just hope I didn't screw up my peds surgical fellowship."

"I thought you were still on the fence about that," Jesse said, looking up from the clipboard in his hands.

"Losing that choice really puts things into focus, you know?"

Mercedes walked up to where Sam was standing. "I just finished the head lac in exam two. Have you heard anything yet?"

Sam scoffed and gestured towards the TV.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in," Molly said, looking up from where she was at the nurses' station. "Welcome home, Doctor Chavez," she said, going over to give him a hug. "Hell of a night for you to be out driving."

"Yeah, I had to come in. I'm on the bone marrow donation list and we got a match to a kid in St. Louis so I gotta get to him ASAP," he said, walking towards the nurses' station. "Hey Sam."

"There he is," Mercedes said with a slight sparkle in her eye.

"Is Sam still mad at me?" he asked, watching him walk away.

"Hardly. Santana's out on the scene that's going down right now."

"Finn out there with her?" Chavez asked.

Mercedes felt her shoulders droop. "I'll give you an update. By the way, you may be asked to work tonight."

"Well, I'll be ready."

"We're going live to a reporter in the field," the news anchor said on the TV as the scene switched back to the news station.

"Carol, police have asked us to stand even further back as negotiations with the snipers have broken down. The situation here is very—" she said, stopping and ducking when the sound of a gun firing rang out as the staff at the hospital gasped.

"We can't show you exactly what is going on and we do have to keep our distance for safety," the news anchor said when the shot went back to her.

"She's okay," Sam whispered. "She's going to be fine. Kurt's with her. Nothing's going to happen."

Back at the scene, Kurt looked around and turned back to Santana. "It's almost over."

"What? How can you tell?"

"I don't hear sniper fire anymore."

Diagonal to where they were, one of the snipers saw Kurt's head and aimed his gun towards Kurt, ready to shoot. Instead, the sniper was the one who got shot.

"We got him!" Kurt and Santana heard someone call out.

"Code four, suspect in custody. Rooftop is clear," another SWAT team member said.

Soon, more members of the SWAT team were on the rooftop and Kurt and Santana were right behind them. "You need to keep him alive. We need to question him," someone said to Kurt.

"I ain't telling you nothing. You're all going down," the sniper said from where he was pinned.

"We need to get pressure dressings on these wounds," Santana said. "We'll package him in the rig."

Gunshots rang out again and the first sniper started laughing. "I told you this ain't over. Not by a long shot."

A little later, they were arriving at the hospital. "Two GSWs, one to the hip and one to the neck. Pressure dressings applied. BP is 80 systolic," Santana called out when she got there.

"This is the son of a bitch that took a shot at you?" Sam asked, meeting up with the paramedics at the entrance.

"I don't know, there's another one out there."

"That's right, no one is safe. Anyone who touches me—" he said, grabbing Santana's hand.

"Keep your hands off of me," she said threateningly.

"I'm filling in for Brody, what's the situation?" Joey asked, meeting up with them.

"Multiple GSWs, pressure is low. Welcome back," Kurt said.

"Good to be back. Let's get him to trauma five."

"Please stay out here. As soon as we're done, he's all yours. I promise," Kurt said, drawing the curtains. "We need a trauma panel and two units of O-neg, crossbatch another six pack."

"Two six packs? Hell, make it case," the sniper said, trying to be funny.

"Let's get him sedated," Joey said.

"No, keep him awake," one of the police officers said. "We need him to answer questions about the second sniper."

"I ain't telling you crap. You'll never find him. You all are gonna die," he said as he started laughing.

"You should calm down," Kurt said, trying to get him hooked up to the machines and check out his injuries.

"Why don't you kiss my ass?"

"Superficial zone two. Through and through confirmed. Jugular vein, carotid artery spared."

"Flag on the play," Joey said. "Third wound in the lateral flank. I need a long wooden Q-tip."

"You should have seen that cop I shot. It was a great shot." He screamed out in pain when Joey stuck him with the Q-tip.

"Gauze."

"Right between the eyes. Over 50 yards away. I wonder what the last thing to go through his head was. Besides my bullet," he said as he started laughing again.

In the waiting room, Jesse and Artie walked up to a patient. "Hi, I'm Doctor Abrams and this is Doctor St. James. Do you mind if we take a look at your forehead?"

"Uh, okay," she said.

"What's your name?"

"Maya." She went to move the ice pack and winced.

"That hurts too?" Jesse asked. "How did this happen?"

"I was in line trying to get into a shelter. They closed the doors when it got too crowded. Everyone started pushing and shoving. I got knocked down and kicked," she said as tears started forming. "Sorry, it's been a tough few days."

"It's okay," Artie said, trying to comfort her. "Come on, let's get you fixed up."

In Rachel's room, Finn was keeping an eye on her and the baby's monitors. "Hey, Rach. I'm back. I'm back and I'm right here. I don't know if you can hear me, but I promise I will never leave your side again."

"Still the same?" Santana asked, coming into the room.

"Yeah," Finn said, briefly taking his eyes off the monitor to give Santana a small smile. "I never should have left her."

"No, there's nothing you could've done. This isn't on you, Finn."

"Maybe it is. Maybe it's the pressure of her worrying."

"Finn, stop it. This is a complication from the pregnancy. You leaving didn't cause a stroke."

"I was gonna make it up to her," Finn said, fishing around for something in his pocket. He pulled out the engagement ring box and opened it, showing it to Santana. "I just hope it's not too late."

He reached down and pulled the pink hospital blanket over Rachel's body to keep her warm, thinking about their first actual conversation.

" _Hey!" Finn said, walking a few feet behind one of his fellow first year residents and one of the nurses, a pink sweater draped over him arm. "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. Or thank you for reviving me. Um, I'm Finn."_

 _Rachel barely looked in his direction and signed the clipboard. "Rachel. Thank you," she said, handing the clipboard over to the nurse. "I gotta say, I thought Army guys were smarter than running into a burning building."_

" _Oh, no. You don't know many Army guys. So…thanks. And thanks for loaning me this – this really cute sweater."_

" _I think it's your color."_

" _I wanted to give it back to you, but I figured since I got it dirty, I should get it dry cleaned first."_

 _Rachel stepped in front of him and stopped walking, staring at him and raised an eyebrow. "Okay," she said before she started walking away again._

" _But maybe I should get your number. So I can get it back to you when it's ready."_

 _Rachel rolled her eyes and turned around again. "Or, since we work at the same hospital, you could always drop it off at the nurses' station." She gave him a knowing look and started walking away again._

" _Yeah, but then you'll be missing out on a really amazing dinner. I'd hate for that to happen to you."_

 _Rachel stopped walking and squeezed her eyes shut, smiling to herself. She regained her composure and turned around again. "Okay. After the shift. One drink."_

" _I'll take it," Finn said._

 _She gave him a small smile and walked over towards the nurses' station where Santana was filling out paperwork. "Is that the Army dude?"_

" _Yes," Rachel said, the smile on her face growing._

" _Girl, he looks like trouble."_

" _I know. And he's so cute."_

" _No. Two first year residents? Don't get your penis where you get your paycheck."_

" _Wow. Is that Shakespeare?" Rachel asked, rolling her eyes at her best friend._

" _A little something I wrote just for you."_

" _It's charming," Rachel said before walking away._

" _You're welcome!" Santana called after her._

In Ali's room, Brody was coming in with news. "Any word for UNOS?" Puck asked.

"Yeah, I spoke to them. But if Ali isn't ready for transplant by morning, someone else will get that heart."

"No! Can they do that?"

"Farah," Ali said.

"We'll figure this out before then. It'll be okay," Puck said.

"Has this been here?" Brody asked, pointing at spots on Ali's chest.

"No. Ali, do you feel pain in your chest?"

"No, but I'm feeling dizzy," he said, fixing the cannula in his nose. He pulled his hand away and saw it was covered in blood.

"He's bleeding. What is wrong with him?" Farah asked.

"Farah, you should step out."

"No, I am not leaving his side."

"We need to start a platelet transfusion. Call the blood bank for two units of platelets," Brody said.

In Maya's exam room, Jesse was cleaning the wound on her head as Artie came back in. "We believe you may have broken your collarbone."

"I can't pay. At least not of all it. I can give you some money."

"It's fine," Jesse said. "Don't worry about it."

"I do work. At a coffee shop. The boss there is really nice. He lets me snag sandwiches and free pastries," she said as Jesse started cleaning the wound. "It's not a lot of money and I can't afford a place yet."

"So where do you stay?"

"I usually sleep in my car and shower at the Y. The cops want everyone off the street so no sleeping in my car tonight. So I went to the shelter and then – ow," she said, wincing when Jesse applied light pressure. "Now I'm here."

"Sounds like a pretty hard day," Artie said. "We'll need an x-ray."

"It is what it is. No one gives you anything for free. Except for maybe x-rays."

"Let's get the shoulder looked at too. Jocelyn, could you help Maya put a gown on?" Jesse asked. "We'll step out."

"Here you go," Jocelyn said, handing Maya a gown. She drew the curtains shut.

Back in Rachel's room, Finn was brushing her hair off her face as Santana watched. "I'll be sure to tell her how well you took care of her."

"Well, I'll need the bonus points when she wakes up," Finn said as Santana let out a slight chuckle.

Rachel's body convulsed and her monitors started beeping. "Finn…." Santana said.

"She's seizing. Start a gram of dilantin and hang some mag sulfate. It could be eclampsia," he said, putting an oxygen mask on her.

"Her stats are down. She's not moving any air," Santana said.

"Start an intubation tray."

"Heart rate's down. Finn, hurry." Santana looked down at Rachel. "Come on, honey."

In the sniper's room, it was getting less dicey. "Esophagus is clear, neck is stable," Kurt said.

"Kurt, the detective is pushing to come in and question the patient."

"No way. He comes in here, gets in our way, his only lead dies. He can wait."

"His hip wound is tracking towards his airway. I need to probe the entrance wound," Joey said.

"What are you doing?" the sniper asked, panting for air. "Come on, I need some meds for the pain."

"No, what you really need is a good lawyer," Kurt said.

"Okay fine. If I tell you where he is, will you give me something for the pain?"

"Yeah, we'll give you something," Joey said.

"I'll tell you where he is. He's…" the sniper said, starting to trail off.

Kurt bent down and got closer to him. "Come on, where is he?" The sniper threw his head forward and hit Kurt in the face as he started to laugh. "You son of a bitch," Kurt muttered, holding a spot on his temple.

"You okay?" Joey asked.

"I told you I'd get you. I told you so," the sniper said as he kept laughing.

"Blood pressure's dropping. The bullet bounced off his ilium into his abdomen," Joey said as the monitors started beeping. "He's bleeding out. We need to get him to the OR now."

They started pushing him out and Kurt saw Mercedes. "Hey, step in."

"Ready to go," she said, following the hospital bed to the elevator.

The sniper made shooting motions at the staff members of the hospital when he locked eyes with Maya in her exam room. She gave him a small smile and he winked back at her.

Down at Rachel's room, Brody and Finn were having a conversation. "I've been over and over her labs. It looks like it is eclampsia. Good call on starting the magnesium when you did."

"She doesn't have hypereflextivity or edema so maybe we're jumping to conclusions," Finn said, looking into her room.

"Finn—"

"Hey, I just got a call so I'll be back as soon as I can," Santana said, coming out into the hallway where they were talking.

"Finn, I can't even imagine how difficult this is, but you know what this means. The pregnancy is toxic to her."

"Brody. If Rachel was awake, she'd want us to do everything we can to save the baby." Finn heard her start coughing and she started shaking again. "That's not a seizure. She's bucking the ventilator." He ran into her room and pushed her hair off her face. "I'm right here, Rach," he whispered.

"Push a milligram of ativan," Brody said. "It's uncomfortable. At least that means she can feel it. It looks like that's working for now but—"

"Let's run some tests. I want to be 1000 percent sure we're not doing anything drastic unless I'm absolutely certain."

Brody looked up at him and saw the engagement ring sitting on the table next to the bed. "I get it," he sighed. "Run your tests. I should go check on Ali. Call me if you need me."

Finn watched him leave then turned his attention back to Rachel. "Hey, sweetheart. I'm right here, Rach. I'm here. It's gonna be okay," he said, shining light into her eyes. "Let me see your beautiful eyes."

 _Rachel crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out as the camera clicked and she started laughing in the photo booth. "No. No funny faces. We only have two more to go," Finn said._

" _Why not? That's why you're in a photo booth, right?" Rachel said as she kept laughing._

" _Just be serious."_

" _Okay, fine. Serious, serious, serious," she said. At the last second, she made the same face as the last time and started laughing again._

" _Really?"_

" _Yes." She saw the look on Finn's face. "Sorry."_

" _I love you," he said for the first time._

 _Rachel breathed in and looked over at him as the camera clicked._

Finn picked up one of Rachel's hands and kissed it.

In the scrub room, Mercedes and Joey were having a conversation before they started surgery. "So, I wasn't expecting this tonight," Joey said.

"Tell me about it. I'm really worried about Rachel."

"Rachel's a fighter. She'll pull through," he said, scrubbing his hands.

"So, after you do this bone marrow donation, you're leaving again in a few days?" Mercedes asked.

"Yeah. Liberia."

"How long are you gone for again?"

"I don't know. As long as they need me."

"Okay," Mercedes said, going back to getting everything out from underneath her nails.

"I'll have breaks. You can come visit. We could meet up in Italy. You ever been?"

"To Italy? No."

"You'll love it. It's great. The Greek Isles – it's beautiful. We'll have a great time."

One of the nurses poked her head in. "Doctor Chavez? It's time."

"They're ready for us," Joey said to her. "Let's scrub up."

"Hello," Jesse said, pulling back the curtain to Maya's room. "So, sorry about the wait. The cops have to lock down the hallway because of the sniper so it's a little backed up in imaging right now."

"That's so scary," Maya said. "Have there been a lot of victims?"

"From the shooters?" Artie asked. "Um, we've had several of them."

"Really? Did you see anyone die?"

"Actually, the, um, first victim was my patient," Jesse said.

"No way. What happened?"

"He was in a car accident. Doctor Abrams found him first."

"And he died?"

"Never had a chance," Artie said. "His head was wrapped. We thought it was trauma from the accident but he had been shot."

"It was my first case. I had to tell his wife. When she came in, she was in so much pain. It was…it was hard. I'll never get used to that."

"That sounds terrible."

"I'm gonna go see if radiology is open yet," Jesse said.

"Do you want any chips or anything?" Artie asked.

"No, I'm fine."

Artie nodded at her and left. Maya grabbed her phone and replayed the conversation that she'd recorded.

Outside of Ali's room, Puck was updating Brody on everything. "I've got him on broad spectrum antibiotics, but the fever's only going up. I'm getting really nervous about this transplant," Puck said.

"I've been nervous about that since you walked through the door. And UNOS keeps calling for updates."

"I know, I know. Maybe it's not bacterial. Maybe it's parasitical. I didn't see any bug bites on him, though. At this point, I'm willing to try anything."

"We'll figure this out," Brody said.

"Doctor Puckerman, your wife is here," Jocelyn said, coming up to Puck.

"Quinn's here? What the hell?"

"Yeah. Tell her I'll meet her in the break room in a minute."

"You got it," she said as she walked away.

Puck walked into Ali's room and Farah turned to look at him. "Is my husband going to die?"

"Farah, we're going to do everything we can."

"You have to do more. You owe him."

"I know I do. He saved my life."

"When you left, when the Americans left, do you know what the village elders did to collaborators like Ali?"

"I'm sure it was horrible."

"They burned down our home. Because they're afraid the Taliban would kill everyone in the village. We have been through too much. You have to save him," Farah said, starting to get upset.

Jocelyn opened the door. "Sorry, Puck. Quinn's not going to wait. I really think you need to see her. Like now."

"Okay, okay. I'll be right back, I promise."

"No more promises. Just do it," Farah said.

Puck walked into the break room and saw Quinn pacing. "It's the middle of the night and there's a sniper out there. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here? You said you were gonna be home as soon as you landed. You haven't even called me."

"I told Sam to call you."

"Sam is not my husband!"

"Quinn, I'm sorry. Things with Ali got worse than I anticipated but I'm fine and I'll be home as soon as—"

"No, no, no. I am so tired of your breaking your promises. Do you have any idea what the last few days have been like for me? For Beth? We had no idea whether you were ever coming back."

"I'm back now."

"Are you? Look, I know how much Ali means to you, but I need us to mean more. You left your family to go to a war zone when you didn't have to. You could have let someone else take that risk."

"I'm sorry," Puck said, trying to comfort Quinn.

"No," she said, ducking out of the way. "No. I am just so tired of keeping all this anger in."

"I never asked you to keep it in."

"Yes, you do. You don't realize it, but you do. You need your rest from work, you need to talk to your patients all day, and I try to leave you alone, but I never get the time to just be angry too. And this was the last straw. I am done."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I came here to say to you in person…not to come home. I just need time," Quinn said as she walked away. "I am so happy that you're home and that you're okay. But I can't do this anymore."

Kurt opened the door to the break room as Quinn left. "Hi Quinn. Bye Quinn."

"What is it, Kurt?" Puck snapped.

"I just got off the phone with UNOS. They have another recipient for the heart and they wanted to know the status of Ali."

"What did you tell them?"

"I said he was fine. But you know if he's not ready for that transplant in the next few hours, they're moving on."

"Got it. Good, thanks," Puck said sarcastically.

Down in Rachel's room, the monitors started beeping again. "Come on, Rach," Finn muttered.

"What's going on?" Brody asked, running in.

"Pressure and pulse rate just keep going up."

"The toxicity is getting worse. We have to—"

"Shhh, I know. Just let me – let me – let me think."

"Finn, she won't make it. We have to do something now!"

"Damn it, Brody, I know! Just let me think."

"We have to act now or Rachel's going to die."

A little later, they were wheeling her hospital bed to the OR. "Come on, Rachel, hang in there," Finn said.

"OB-GYN is ready," Sam said. "Finn, you shouldn't go in," he said, needing Santana to help him hold Finn back.

"Finn, you don't want to see this," Santana said.

"I'll observe and update you on anything that's happening."

"And we'll be right here with you, buddy, alright?" Sam said.

"She's going to be okay," Santana said.

In the other OR room, things weren't looking well for the sniper. "This guy is a mess. The abdominal cavity is pooling all the blood in his body," Joey said.

"More O-neg now," Mercedes said.

"We have to find the bleeder or this guy's not gonna wake up and the cops aren't going to find the second sniper."

Mercedes reached in and felt around. "It's the vena cava. I got pressure on it."

"Good catch. Clamp," Joey said to one of the nurses. "Hold on. Got it," he said, putting the bullet in a bucket.

"Pressure's dropping!" Mercedes said as the machines started beeping.

"He's bleeding out, let's go," Joey said. He started doing chest compressions to start his heart again.

In one of the hospital hallways, Maya was walking towards one of the police officers with a switchblade in her hands. "Maya?" Jesse asked. "What are you doing up here?"

She stopped walking, tucked the switchblade away and turned to face Jesse. "I was just looking for the bathroom," she said with a smile on her face.

"Patient's bathrooms are downstairs," he said, gesturing to the elevators. "Come on, I'll walk you." They walked into the elevator and Maya stared at the police officer with a blank look on her face.

At the nurses' station, Puck was tapping his fingers against the desk and Molly looked up at him in annoyance. She looked at Kurt, who sighed. "You can't rush it, Puck. Ali's tests are gonna take what they take."

"I know, sorry. The last few days have been hard. Little on edge."

"It's always something, isn't it?" Kurt asked as Molly moved computers. "I still don't know whether Blaine's gonna stay here or take his dream job training recruits for combat in South Carolina."

"But you guys just got back together."

"Life's a bitch, ain't it?"

"Puck, there are no reports yet, but the slides are up," Molly said, going back to the computer she was originally sitting at.

"I wanna see it myself," he said, going around the desk to look at the computer screen. "This isn't malaria. Come here, look at this," Puck said, gesturing for Kurt to look at the slides. He clicked the screen a few times to zoom in. "See that? Those are broken blood cells – schistocytes."

"Okay, so fever, anemia, schistocytes. It's not an infection."

"Exactly. It's TTP. It's a blood disorder. At least we know what's wrong with him. We need to replace the plasma in his blood. Molly, can you get a blood cell separator for trauma two?" he asked as Molly picked up the phone to make the call.

"Do you think one round of plasma exchange is gonna be enough?"

"It's gonna have to be. We only have until morning before we lose the heart," Puck said before he walked away.

Outside of the OR, Santana, Finn and Sam were waiting on news from Rachel's surgery.

" _Look, Finn," Rachel said, sitting down on the arm of the chair in their apartment. "I know you think there's nothing I can do but I can help you with this. I want to help."_

" _How can you help me if I can't help myself?" Finn asked, not taking his eyes off of what he was fixing. "I can't keep putting you through this."_

" _I told you I'd wait. Look, babe, it's not—" Rachel said, reaching out to rub his back. He jerked away and got up from the chair._

" _Rachel, I've been back from the war for a year. I still have those thoughts. I'm not getting any better. And I don't know how long that's gonna be. And I don't know if it's ever gonna be."_

" _I don't need a timeline. I love you."_

" _I love you too. And that's – that's why I have to leave and that's why I can't stay," Finn said. Rachel looked away from him and looked at the pictures of them on the front table in the apartment. "Because, if I do, I'm gonna ruin your life and that's why we're done, Rachel."_

 _Finn heard a loud bang and crouched down while silently cursing himself. "Hey, it's just the neighbors upstairs," Rachel said, trying not to cry. "Finn…" she said, watching him walk away._

"Finn," Brody said, coming out from the OR. He crouched down so he was on the same level as the three of them. "Finn. Rachel's stable. I'm so sorry, man. The baby's gone," Brody said as Finn felt his heart plummet. "We both knew there was nothing that could be done."

"Yeah," Finn said as he started shaking and felt tears come to his eyes.

"Rachel, she's still – she's still fighting. Her kidneys don't look good so they're taking her down to ICU now. Come on," Brody said, extending a hand to help him up.

Santana watched them walk off as silent tears streamed down her face. Once Finn and Brody were gone, Sam moved closer to Santana and wrapped his arms around her as she broke down crying.

After she calmed down, she got up to get coffee. When she came back to the ICU, she handed one of the cups to Brody. "Milk, no sugar."

"Yeah. Santana, you're too good to me."

"Shut up." She looked at him. "How are you holding up?"

"I've been better," he sighed.

"You had to know it was always going to be Finn," she said, looking in the room at Finn taking care of Rachel.

Up in Maya's room, they were putting a brace on her arm. "That feels a lot better."

"You'll have to wear this for a few weeks, but then you should expect a full recovery," Artie said.

"As long as I can make a latte, I'm cool."

"Artie, check the attitude on this one. Maybe you can learn something. It's never as bad as you think," Jesse said.

"That's what I always try to say," Maya said.

"I will keep that in mind," Artie said. "Let's get you your meds and then you'll be as good as new, okay?"

"Except…it's fine if the answer's no, but is it okay if I take a nap here? It's been awhile since I've slept in a real bed."

Jesse and Artie shared a look. "Yeah, I guess. We'll just have to move you if there are any emergency cases, okay?" Artie said.

"Thanks so much. You guys are the best."

Molly walked into the room in a hurry. "Did you guys hear the news? The sniper died on the table," Molly said, causing Maya to blink in surprise.

"Did they get anything out of him?" Jesse asked.

"I'm not sure. I heard the cops found the car and they're dusting for prints. I hope they kill that other bastard too," Molly said as Maya stopped breathing. "Sorry for the rough language, honey. It's just got me all worked up," she said, noticing Maya's face.

"You okay?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, I'm just tired." She pulled the blankets back and rolled to her side.

Down in Rachel's room, Brody was checking on her to make sure everything was okay. Outside the room. Santana and Puck were talking as Finn was sitting down in the corner. Puck walked over to him and sat next to him. "Anything I can do, Finn. Whatever you need."

"I know. How's Ali?"

"We're doing the plasma exchange. We'll know in a few hours if it's working. If it doesn't, the heart goes to the next person on the list."

"After all that," Finn said, looking over at him.

"Yeah, after all that," Puck said, patting Finn's back as he left.

Brody listened to Rachel's heart and took his stethoscope off and leaned on the bed rails. "Come on, Rachel."

" _Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Brody said, coming out of a café as someone hit his car._

" _Oh my god," Rachel said, getting out of her car. "Um, I'm sorry. Is this…is this you?"_

" _Yeah."_

" _Oh god, I'm so sorry. I was…I was in a hurry and I wasn't paying any attention and I…"_

" _You know what, these things happen. And…it doesn't even look that bad," Brody said, gesturing to the front of his Porsche. "What's your big hurry?"_

" _Uh, blind date," Rachel said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear._

" _Coming or leaving?"_

" _Leaving. Definitely leaving. Escaping is more like it."_

" _That bad, huh?"_

" _It probably wasn't even the guy's fault. It's just the first date after the break up and it's been six months, but my best friend, she told me to get back on the horse. It turns out, not that horse," she said, gesturing into the restaurant she was leaving from. They stared at each other and smiled. "Sorry, you are waiting for my insurance card and I'm standing here, blabbering like an idiot about my love life," Rachel said as she started digging through her purse for her wallet._

" _You know what, hang on. I got a better idea. How about you buy me dessert, I pay for dinner, and we call it even."_

" _Dessert probably doesn't cover that scratch."_

" _Um, no. It probably doesn't. But ending my bad streak of first dates might. What do you say?"_

 _Rachel thought about it for a minute. "Okay."_

" _Brody," he said, holding out his hand._

" _Rachel," she said, shaking it._

On the main floor, Jesse was looking for something when Artie walked by. "Hey, Artie? I'm sorry about earlier." Artie stared at Jesse with a confused look on his face. "Saying you could learn from Maya. You know, I didn't mean to make light of your problem."

"No, you were right. In other news, I just heard from my dad. He found a surgery for my hand. 50 percent chance I regain full function and, um 50 percent chance they cause further damage."

"Those are not good odds. What if you don't have the surgery?"

"Well, a slow recovery. I would never be a surgeon but I could be a functioning ER doc in a couple of weeks."

"It's your choice, right? Bird in the hand?"

"Yeah, I hadn't really thought about it. What about you? What do you think?"

"I don't know, man. It's your life, but take it from a guy who blew it about 20 years ago. You could lose all this. I don't know if it's worth the risk, you know? Why don't we sit down after the shift, make a list, talk to Brody—"

"Everybody pipe down," Molly said. "They have a picture of the second sniper," she said, turning up the volume on the TV.

"Police officials say that fingerprints have revealed the identity of the second sniper. Her name is Brianna Ward," the news anchor said as Maya's driver license appeared on the screen. "Investigators are asking anyone with information to—"

"Officer, she's here!" Artie said as him and Jesse took off to Maya – Brianna's – exam room.

"Maya! We know who you are!" Jesse said, opening the door, stopping before he could go all the way in. He saw her brace was off and there was a pool of blood under the bed from where she slit her wrist. "Jocelyn, get me Doctor Chavez. Now!"

A little while later, they were working on reviving her. "I'm inflating the cuff and using it as a tourniquet," Joey said as Jesse did chest compressions. "Hang another saline."

"We found her coded. She bled out," Jesse said.

"Use the O-neg," Joey said.

"She's the second shooter?" Kurt asked, coming into the room.

"Yeah. Come on," he said to her. "You don't get to decide how you die. Anyone know how long she's been bleeding? Hold CPR," he said to Jesse.

"BP is coming back," Kurt said.

"BP is 90 systolic. She's stabilizing," Jocelyn said.

"Hang another two units of blood. I want her healthy for her day in court," Joey said. "Let's get her to trauma one right now."

"Nice save," Artie said to Jesse once everyone left.

"I should have known. She seemed, um, I feel so stupid," he said, throwing away his gloves and kicked the trashcan. "I really believed her."

"Yeah, we both did. That's why I'm getting the surgery on my hand."

"I thought you'd want to wait to think about it some more."

"This sealed it. I can't keep a professional boundary when I see pain every day. You know, this isn't even the first case. I need the distance of surgery. I need to be somewhere where every case isn't like a gut punch. Where it doesn't stick with me for a week. Where I don't end up going fishing with my dead patient's fathers."

"And if the surgery doesn't work?"

"I'll deal with that then," Artie said as he left.

In Rachel's room, Brody, Santana and Finn were gathered around her, waiting for something – anything – to happen. Santana ran her thumb over Rachel's knuckles and took her best friend's hands. She looked down when she felt something flutter against her hand. "She squeezed my hand," Santana whispered.

"Purposeful movements. Must mean the swelling in her brain is going down," Brody said.

"Rachel? Don't you go scaring us like that again, okay?" Santana said.

"Rach," Finn said, taking her other hand. "We're here with you. Come on."

"Wait, is she—"

"It looks like it," Brody said as Rachel's eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room with a confused look on her face. She saw Santana and Finn's faces and smiled at them.

"You want some time alone with her?" Santana asked Finn.

"Yeah." Finn watched them walk out of the room and turned his attention back to Rachel. "Hey. You're okay," he whispered.

"The baby?" she muttered.

Finn's face fell and he saw Rachel start crying. "Shhh, shhh, shhh," he said, caressing her cheek to try and calm her down.

In Ali's room, he woke up and started breathing normally again. "Farah?"

"I'm here, Ali," she said, taking his hand. "You made it. You are going to get your heart."

"The treatment worked," Puck said. "Doctor Weston is going to take you to the OR."

"I don't know how to thank you, Puck. The lengths you have gone through to make this happen. You are a man of your word. Thank you."

"I'm sorry I was so angry with you before."

"I seem to bring that out in wives," Puck said, earning odd glances from Ali and Farah. "It's an inside joke."

"I hear we're ready for transplant," Brody said, coming into the room.

"Yes," Ali said.

"There are no words for what you have given us," Farah said as they wheeled Ali away.

Joey came out from one of the rooms and saw Mercedes. "Looks like the second sniper pulled through," Mercedes said.

"Yeah. Healthy enough to rot in jail the rest of her life," he responded. "What are you doing? Wanna go for breakfast? Maybe we can have our first real date."

"Um," Mercedes said, pulling him off to the side. "I really like you Joey."

"Ah."

"Yeah. But I can't date you. and it wouldn't really be a date, would it? Because you're here for a couple of days. And then what? I mean, you go back to Liberia and I stay here?"

"No, we just keep having fun and we see where it goes."

"Your contract is for three years, Joey. I don't want to be in a holding pattern for that long."

Joey sighed. "We're just…victims of bad timing."

"Yeah. It's the story of my life."

"Mine too," Joey said as he leaned in and kissed her.

At the end of the shift, Kurt was leaving the hospital when he saw Blaine sitting on one of the benches. "What a nice surprise," he said, walking over to Blaine. Blaine stood up and wrapped his arms around Kurt as they kissed.

"I didn't want to tell you this on the phone, um, about me taking the job," Blaine said.

"So you're going?"

"No, I'm not taking the job in South Carolina. I found a job here training SWAT teams and state police."

"That's great! But I don't want you to give up that other job because of me."

"I'm giving it up because of _us._ When I came back to you, I made a commitment. A job isn't important. This is what matters," Blaine said, taking Kurt's hand in his. "You matter. I love you and I want to be with you here."

"I want that too." Kurt thought for a moment. "What are we waiting for? Let's just do it."

"Do what?"

"Get married."

Blaine started laughing. "I was actually gonna ask you. I packed the bags and made a hotel reservation. We can be in Santa Fe tonight."

They both started laughing and shared another kiss. "You were pretty sure I was gonna say yeah, huh?" Kurt said, walking towards Blaine's truck.

"Yeah, I was pretty sure."

"Huh," Kurt said. "Some things are gonna change. Clearly I'm becoming way too predictable."

"Well, that's what married life is all about, right?" Blaine said as they drove off.

Puck walked out of the hospital and saw Quinn pull up in front of him. "Hey. Listen, I'm really happy to see you because I've been—"

"I don't want to hear it. We'll talk about this later. Right now, we are going to Beth's violin recital. She is number 23 of 25 and we are going to stay for the whole damn thing."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"And while we are there, I need you to actually be there with me. Not thinking about your patients and your cases and not checking your cell phone. I need you to really be there with me. Watching your daughter."

Puck held up his phone. "It's off. There's no place I'd rather be, baby," he said, getting in the car.

In Rachel's room, Finn held her as she cried over the baby. "I just don't want anyone to tell me that I can have another baby – that I can just get pregnant again," she said, tears streaming down her face. "What they don't get is that I can't have _this_ baby and I loved this baby. I didn't even know how amazing it was to pregnant until I wasn't. I just feel empty."

Finn squeezed her closer to him and kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, I can imagine. When I heard its little heart beat…"

Rachel looked up at him. "I heard you talking to Santana when I was out. I heard what you said about getting married."

Finn let out a light chuckle. "You always had good ears. Even in a coma. I wanted to make it more romantic. Guess I'm not very good at this kind of thing," he said, kissing her. He got out of the bed and grabbed the ring box and got down on one knee. "How about it?"

Rachel blinked a few times and sniffed. "You don't have to do this. Don't do this because…you wanna make it up to me or you think it's the right thing or you have to prove something."

"I'm not trying to prove anything to you. I love you and we've been through too much together. I can't imagine my life without you. I've seen what it's like and I don't want to go through it again," Finn said, opening the ring box and holding it out so Rachel could see the ring. "So, I'm asking my best friend, I'm asking you, Rachel Barbra Berry, will you marry me?"


End file.
